Qualla: Arena of Nimes https://qualla.com/arena-of-nimes en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:30 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/g/1/arena-of-nimes-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Arena of Nimes https://qualla.com/arena-of-nimes Arena of Nimes: Introduction https://qualla.com/arena-of-nimes/ Photo credit Vestemocoso, CC BY-SA 4.0. By the eighteenth century, 150 houses stood inside the Arena of Nimes, with hundreds of people living in them. Families cooked meals in rooms carved between Roman arches. Children played where gladiators had fought. The amphitheatre had been a neighborhood for so long that the idea of emptying it seemed almost eccentric. Built around 100 AD, shortly after the Colosseum in Rome, the Arena of Nimes is one of the best-preserved Roman amphitheatres in the world -- not because it was carefully maintained, but because every generation found a use for it.

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Image: Vestemocoso | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/g/1/arena-of-nimes-wp/spg1-arena-of-nimes-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Arena of Nimes: Blood and Sand https://qualla.com/arena-of-nimes/ Photo credit Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0. Roman amphitheatres were purpose-built for spectacle: two theatres set face to face around an oval arena, designed so every spectator could see the action without obstruction. The Arena of Nimes followed the Colosseum's blueprint on a smaller scale, with 120 arches across two tie...

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Image: Krzysztof Golik | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/g/1/arena-of-nimes-wp/spg1-arena-of-nimes-blood-and-sand.mp3 0:06 2 full Arena of Nimes: Fortress, Village, Fortress Again https://qualla.com/arena-of-nimes/ Photo credit Cancre, CC BY-SA 4.0. When the city of Nimes contracted in the fourth century, the amphitheatre's massive walls offered ready-made fortification. The arcades were blocked up with stone, and the arena became a castrum -- a fortified settlement. In 725, Arabs from Spain seized control of Nimes; thirty y...

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Image: Cancre | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/g/1/arena-of-nimes-wp/spg1-arena-of-nimes-fortress-village-fortress-again.mp3 0:06 3 full Arena of Nimes: Clearing the Stones https://qualla.com/arena-of-nimes/ Photo credit Daniel VILLAFRUELA., CC BY-SA 3.0. King Francis I, influenced by Renaissance ideals, wanted to restore the amphitheatre's ancient appearance, but the most his era managed was clearing buildings from the first-floor gallery. The real transformation began in 1786, when demolition of the interior houses started in ea...

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Image: Daniel VILLAFRUELA. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/g/1/arena-of-nimes-wp/spg1-arena-of-nimes-clearing-the-stones.mp3 0:06 4 full Arena of Nimes: Amplifiers in the Arches https://qualla.com/arena-of-nimes/ Photo credit Wolfgang Staudt, CC BY 2.0. The arena's second life as a performance venue has proven remarkably durable. Francois Truffaut filmed part of his first movie, Les Mistons, here in 1957. Dire Straits recorded their live album On the Night in the arena in May 1992. Rammstein captured most of their Volkerball DVD...

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Image: Wolfgang Staudt | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/g/1/arena-of-nimes-wp/spg1-arena-of-nimes-amplifiers-in-the-arches.mp3 0:06 5 full