Pula Arena

About this place

The sixth-largest surviving Roman amphitheatre in the world, and the only one to keep **all four of its architectural rings** complete along with its three side towers. It was built in the first century AD under Vespasian — the same reign as the Colosseum — for around **twenty thousand spectators**, an enormous figure for a city whose population then was under five thousand. The reason is that Pula was an important naval harbour on the sea route north. It survived because it was never quarried for its stone, as others were. In the fifteenth century Venetian nobles proposed moving it block by block to Venice, and a senator from Pula itself stopped the plan. Beneath the seating are underground passages where equipment and animals were kept, now holding an exhibition on **olive and wine growing** in Roman Istria, with original amphorae and presses. Note: it is still in use — major summer concerts, and the **Pula Film Festival** every July.