Influence of the Roman Colosseum on Modern Architecture

The Roman Colosseum has had a major influence on many buildings and structures through-out our history.

Even to this day it is possible to find it's architecture in many different forms.

One of today's structures which seems to closely resemble it, is the modern football stadia. Like the Roman Colosseum, many are built in a large oval form, this is mainly the case in Scotland, whilst in England they tend to be rectangular. The oval shaped stadiums also have the advantage of fitting in a slightly larger crowd, due to the curved sections at each end.

The seating arrangements in the modern football stadium are similar to the ones in the Roman Colosseum. They were designed to accommodate thousands of spectators. Most stadiums now are mainly all-seaters, which seems to have been adopted from the Colosseum.

The modern football stadium also pays attention to the ease of entry and exit, which played a big role in the plan and structure of the colosseum from the beginning.

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Both of theses structures were also built with fireproof building materials .This was highly important for the safety of both these constructions, as they were constantly dealing with huge crowds of spectators.

Like the colosseum, modern football stadiums are also equipped with shelters.

There are also many differences between these two structures, mainly because the football stadium is an evolved version of the Roman Colosseum, and therefore uses different construction methods, for example, the football stadium is made out of steel or reinforced concrete with cantilevered roofs, whilst the Colosseum was built using brick and stone with concrete vaults.

Some of the main changes in todays stadium seem to be of increasing size and improving facilities. Most now have shops, bars, restaurants, extensive car parks and various other means to make the spectators' visit comfortable. This was not available in the Colosseum.

The modern football stadia no longer speak the classical language of architecture, however, they are all large enough to have a major impact on the areas in which they are built, which is a similar architectural gesture to that of the Colosseum.