#marbleseats

Why are the marble seats all missing from Rome's Colosseum, and all that's left is the brick and concrete underneath? Because in 847 AD a big earthquake wrecked most of downtown Rome. Rather than fix everything, the Romans moved across the river to Trastevere (Italian for "across the river") and built a medieval city there. To get the mortar and cement to build the new city, they ripped up the Colosseum's seats and burned them in lime kilns. The lime kilns were conveniently located inside the Colosseum itself #colosseum #marbleseats #limekilns #trastevere #earthquake847ad #medievalrome