Durango semi-weekly herald., 1902-02-20
FAMED RUIN GUARDED.
Workmen Constantly Engaged in Re-
pairing the Stately Coliseum
in Rome.

keep up the Coliseum. the most i'm
pressiye and imposing ruin in the
| world and most conspicuous type of
Roman architecture and civilization.
Fifty or sixty masons are kept at work
all the time repairing breaks and
| cracks for fear of endangering the
lives OF the tourists who constantly
visit the place. They are working un-
der the direction of an architect and
engineer employed by the minister OF
public instruction. People with artis-
tic taste complain about this restora-
ton, but it is absolutely necessary in
order to save the ruin At the same
time it was not necessary for the
care-takers after the fall of the papacy
to tear out the shrubs and plants
which decorated this most stately
solemn. majestic pile of stone
Before 1870 the gaunt and bare in
terror, the glorious walls and the titan
ic arches were softened and embel
lished with garlands of green, and in
places large trees grew from the
cracks in the stones. The crypts and
vaults were cushioned with mosses
the Scottish abbeys and the castle OF
kenilworth. 1t was then the most
beautiful as well as the most imposing
structure in existence. and so great
was the variety of vegetation and TO-
liage which sprang from the soil that
had been saturated with the blood OF
the martyrs that a botanist named
Deakin published a catalogue of the
fora of the Coliseum identifying 400
species In tearing away this foliage
the workmen did an immense amount
OF damage. more than the decay OF
century would cause because the
roots of the trees and shrubs had
wormed their way into the cracks and
crevices and had clinched themselves
stoutly resisting the attempts at their
eviction
1t is the rule of the present admin
istration of the antiquities in Rome to
clear out all vegetation, strip off the
ivy that garands the walls. and even
the mosses that soften the outlines
and strengthen the color of the ven
cradle work. In the Palace of the
Caesars, in the Forum and in all the
other ruins you actually see men con.
stantly employed picking out the
blades OF grass that spring up after
every rain from the cracks in the mar
bic pavements. and every time a
shoot of ivy appears there is some
cruel attendant ready to tear it down
Yesterday we saw a man with a rope
around his shoulders lowered from the
lls, -,
scrape off some delicate mosses. In
fact, the ruins are about the cleanest
things in Rome.
Since the overthrow of the church,
too, the civil authorities have remov-
ed all the religious emblems from the
Coliseum. Until 1872 the spot where
the Christian martyrs suffered was
marked by tall iron cross, the base
of which was devoutly kissed by the
We're small chapels and stations.
Every Friday at in the afternoon
the Carmelite monks, who had charge
of the ruins. led a procession around
the Via Crucis. the monks being
wrapped in gray cowls with only their
eyes visible-a most impressive spec
tacle-after which one of them
preached sermon from pulpit in
the arena 1t was from this pulpit
that GavaZzit preached the sensation
al sermons which were followed by
the revolution of March. 1S4S. To
the great indignation of faithful Cath
olics, the civil government removed
the cross and the shrines and forbade
religious services in the ruins, the
excuse being that the air was un-
healthful and that the worshipers
were exposed to the danger of fever
but shortly afterward they were open
ed to the public. There is a good deal
of superstition about fevers in Rome,
but no one has ever been able to
trace a case back to the Coliseum, al
though have no doubt that the damp
vaults would chill any person who re-
mained in them.
There is popular notion that st.
Peters cathedral could be placed in
side of the Coliseum, but this is not
true. St Peters is in the form of a
cross. The Coliseum is oval, 1,79O
| feet in circumference. 620 feet at the
major axis and 525 at the minor axis.
st. Peters is 636 feet long by 450 feet
wide. so that if 1t were shaped a little
differently 1t might be squeezed with
in the Coliseum walls. The dome OF
| st. Peters is 44S feet high; the walls
| OF the Coliseum are l57 feet, and they
were probably thirty or forty feet
higher once.
There has been good deal of dis
cussion as to the seating capacity OF
the Coliseum, but nobody can tell ex
actly what 1t was. The estimates run
all the way from 10000 to $1,000
There were eighty entrances and eigh
ty stairways. and four tiers of boxes
and seats for the diffeffrent ranks ol
society the nobility surrounding the
imperial box on both sides, and the
soldiers and sailors having free en-
trance into what we would call the
peanut gallery which was about l4'
feet from the ground. Free admission
was given to the sailors because they