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Are gladiators coming back? Rome's largest gladiator school to reopen

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Rome hopes to restore gladiator school for visitors with help from donations.

An ancient gladiator school, connected to the Colosseum, can now be restored and opened to the public for visits, after a donation from the government of Kuwait. The Roman government is in talks with the Arab country, which has expressed interest in the cultural heritage of Rome, for an amount of about $2.29 million (Ł1.5 million) for the restorations and preservation of the gladiator school.

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Highlights

By Atarah Haely (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
Catholic Online (https://www.catholic.org)
6/9/2015 (8 years ago)

Published in Europe

Keywords: Rome, Kuwait, Ludus Magnus, Gladiator School, Colosseum, Restoration, Heritage, Cultural Heritage, Historical Site

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - The Roman government, welcoming all interested parties, admits the unfortunate situation with preserving their historical sites on their own and the need for private companies and other governments to help maintain the heritage artifacts.

"We are in talks with Kuwait, one of several countries that has shown an interest in investing in Rome's cultural heritage. For many years the area around the gladiator school has been rather forgotten, and impossible to visit. We hope to make some significant improvements and restructure the whole zone," said a city council spokesperson according to the Telegraph UK.

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The Roman officials have always meant to restore the Ludus Magnus or Great Gladiatorial Training School, which is often a forgotten site, compared to the Colosseum.

The Ludus Magnus is the city's largest facility, composed with blocks of barracks and a tunnel linking to the arena of the Colosseum. As depicted in the movie Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe, the gladiators would put their helmets on before navigating the torchlit pathways into the arena.

The largest ancient gladiator school, its ruins were discovered in 1937 and the excavation process was reportedly stopped 20 years later.

Now in "a poor condition, which is totally incomprehensible and absolutely senseless given the thousands of people who look at the ruins from above each day," as admitted by the cultural heritage officials from Rome, they are hoping for the donations to restore the site and for it to be opened to visitors one day.

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