Pula Arena

22 Fun Facts about Pula Arena

1. Location: Pula Arena stands on the western edge of the old town, just a short walk from the harbor and the Adriatic Sea. Pula, the largest city on the Istrian peninsula, is known for its remarkably well-preserved Roman landmarks, including the Temple of Augustus on the Forum and the Arch of the Sergii. Thanks to its elevated position, the amphitheater offers sweeping views of the sea and remains one of the city’s most iconic and easily recognizable monuments.
2. Significance: Pula Arena is the sixth-largest Roman amphitheater of its kind and ranks among the best-preserved ancient monuments anywhere in the world. It is one of Croatia’s most significant cultural landmarks and attracts around 400,000 visitors every year.
3. Wooden arena: The first arena was likely a simple wooden structure built in the early 1st century AD during the reign of Emperor Augustus, just outside the city walls of the time. Wooden arenas were common throughout the Roman Empire because they were quick to construct and could later be replaced with stone. Although its exact appearance is unknown, it was probably oval in shape and already used for animal hunts and gladiatorial games.
4. Construction history: The stone amphitheater was begun around the year 50 during the reign of Emperor Claudius and enlarged to its present dimensions under Vespasian. Construction was completed around the year 80 under Emperor Titus, when the arena took on its final form and could seat approximately 22,000 spectators. At that time, Pula was an important Roman port and administrative center, and the arena served as the main venue for events across the entire region of Istria.
5. Transport connections: The Via Flavia was built around the year 78 under Emperor Vespasian and connected the city of Aquileia in present-day Italy with Pula at the southern tip of Istria. Running along the peninsula’s western coastline, it was one of the most important trade and military routes in the region. For Pula, it provided direct access to the Roman road system and played a key role in the city’s economic growth.
6. Workers: Pula Arena was constructed by a combination of free laborers, skilled craftsmen, and enslaved workers. They relied on tools such as chisels, winches, and treadwheel cranes to position the heavy limestone blocks with remarkable precision. Enslaved workers received no regular wages but could earn small payments or privileges as rewards for good performance, while free laborers were compensated for their dangerous work. As on many large construction sites of antiquity, accidents were common, and lives were often lost.
7. Audience: The games held in the arena were major public spectacles that attracted people from every social class, including citizens, merchants, soldiers, visitors, and even enslaved individuals. Admission was usually free, as wealthy sponsors financed the events to enhance their public standing. Visitors entered using small clay tokens known as tesserae, distributed beforehand on the Forum or in other public areas, which indicated their designated gate and seating section. Seating followed a strict hierarchy: officials and local elites occupied the lower tiers, while ordinary citizens were seated higher up. The atmosphere resembled the excitement and noise of a modern football match.
8. Gladiatorial games: Gladiatorial contests took place in Pula Arena for several centuries, likely from the 1st century until the early 5th century. The fighters competed in clearly defined classes to ensure balanced and entertaining duels. The afternoon bouts were regarded as the highlight of the day, and the fate of a defeated gladiator was determined jointly by the sponsor and the spectators. When such games were banned under Emperor Honorius, they eventually ceased in Pula as well.
9. Animal hunts: The arena also hosted animal hunts, which generally took place in the morning. Specially trained fighters hunted wild animals or faced several creatures at once in staged scenarios. The animals were kept in underground cages until they were brought into the arena through gates or raised by mechanical hoists. Because animal contests remained permissible in the Roman Empire for a long time, such events may have continued in Pula until the late 7th century.
10. Middle Ages: By the Middle Ages, Pula Arena had fallen into significant disrepair, and its interior was used mainly as grazing land for livestock, as well as for occasional markets and fairs. Written sources from the early 15th century also mention jousting tournaments organized by the Knights Hospitaller, the order later known as the Knights of Malta, who maintained a permanent base in Pula. Additional tournaments may have taken place, although they are not documented.
11. Stone removal: After the end of Roman rule, Pula Arena was used as a convenient source of building material for many centuries. Despite repeated prohibitions—first in the 13th century and again in 1458—large portions of the seating tiers and vaulted structures were dismantled. The last major extraction took place around 1709, when stones were removed to build the foundations of the bell tower of Pula Cathedral.
12. Venetian plan: In the 16th century, the Venetian Senate considered dismantling parts of Pula Arena and transporting the stones to Venice for new construction. Senator Gabriele Emo blocked the plan by strongly advocating for the amphitheater’s preservation on its original site. A commemorative plaque in the northwest tower still honors his efforts and recalls how narrowly the arena escaped complete disassembly.
13. Restoration: By the late 18th century, the historical significance of Pula Arena began to be recognized, prompting the first restoration work and archaeological investigations under French and later Austrian administration. In the 1930s, part of the eastern stand was reconstructed, laying the groundwork for the arena’s modern role as a cultural venue.
14. Architecture: Pula Arena is built of light limestone and features two stacked arcaded levels with a total of 72 arches, topped by an upper story containing 64 rectangular window openings. On the seaward side, the structure rises to more than 32 meters, while on the landward side it appears much lower due to the sloping terrain. Despite this natural adaptation, the amphitheater could accommodate around 26,000 people in Roman times.
15. The four towers: Four rectangular towers stand at the outer ends of the arena. Their upper floors housed cisterns that were filled with collected rainwater channeled from above. From there, the water could be sprayed through small openings or hoses to moisten the air and reduce dust—an early form of climate control for both spectators and performers. The towers also served as stairwells and connection points between seating levels, giving the structure its distinctive silhouette.
16. Velarium: The velarium of Pula Arena is evidenced by remarkably well-preserved stone fixtures along the upper wall ring, which clearly show where the wooden masts and the complex rope system of the sunshade were anchored. These elements have allowed archaeologists to confirm that the arena once featured a vast canopy system, engineered according to principles borrowed from Roman naval technology, providing spectators with reliable protection from both sun and rain.
    
17. Underground passages and structures: Beneath the arena floor stretched an intricate network of narrow corridors, chambers, and cages used to prepare the spectacles in Roman times. Gladiators waited in these rooms before entering the arena, and animals were kept here until they were brought up through gates or mechanical hoists. Today, the preserved underground levels house a permanent exhibition on Roman wine and olive-oil production in Istria, featuring reconstructed presses, tools, and numerous amphorae that illustrate the region’s agricultural methods and trade systems.
18. Open-air concerts: Each summer, Pula Arena becomes a breathtaking venue for open-air concerts featuring international stars such as Elton John, Bryan Adams, Grace Jones, José Carreras, and Simply Red. Its exceptional acoustics and dramatic historic setting make it one of the most impressive concert locations in Europe. Depending on the stage layout, the arena can host between 5,000 and 7,000 spectators.
19. Pula Film Festival: The Pula Film Festival is Croatia’s oldest and most prestigious film festival and is held every July in Pula Arena. Originally founded as the main film festival of former Yugoslavia, it now awards the Golden Arenas, the country’s most important film prizes. In addition to national competitions, the festival showcases international productions and draws tens of thousands of visitors each year to the remarkable setting of the ancient arena.
20. Ice hockey arena: In September 2012, Pula Arena was transformed into an open-air ice hockey stadium when the Croatian team Medveščak Zagreb played two games of the international Erste Bank Ice Hockey League at a warm 23 degrees Celsius. The team first lost 2–3 to HDD Olimpija Ljubljana from Slovenia, before defeating the Vienna Capitals from Austria 4–1 two days later. The league included teams from Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, making it one of the most diverse ice hockey leagues in Europe.
21. Name origin: The name “Arena” comes from the Latin word harena, meaning sand. It originally referred to the sand-covered floor inside the structure, which absorbed blood and provided secure footing, before the term gradually came to describe the entire building. The word “amphitheater” has Greek roots and combines amphi (“around”) and theatron (“viewing place”), referring to a spectator area that completely surrounds the performance space. In Pula, the term “Arena” has become the established name for the Roman amphitheater.
22. (Not yet) a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Although Pula Arena ranks among the best-preserved Roman amphitheaters, it is still not listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Plans for a nomination are considered challenging, partly because earlier restoration work does not meet modern standards. Particularly criticized are alterations made in the 1980s, when parts of the ancient vaults were opened using heavy machinery. The rooms created during this intervention briefly housed a pizzeria, which closed again after a short period.