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| Sunday, 20 February 2005 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Colosseum - scene of many horrific fights The Colosseum in Rome, Italy is one of the most impressive landmarks in the city and continues to hold its own in a modern world of skyscrapers. It is a glorious but distressing reminder of Roman imperial power and cruelty. It is inside these premises that the Romans, for many centuries, cold-bloodedly killed thousands of people they viewed as criminals, as well as professional fighters and animals.
The giant stadium was over 160 feet high, with 80 entrances and could accommodate over 50,000 spectators. It was the venue for gladiator fights, staged naval battles and wild animal hunts. Sometimes, as many as 10,000 people, who were slaves, prisoners and volunteers, were killed during these staged battles. Christians were thrown to the lions, watched by thousands of people, at the Colosseum. A stop was put to the gladiatorial battles after 404AD, but the killing of animals such as lions, elephants, snakes and panthers continued, in fun, until the sixth century. Mock naval battles were staged in the stadium by removing the floor boards and flooding the lower floors, which generally housed the prisoners and animals. These proved to be less popular than gladiator battles, so that they were moved to another place and the Colosseum confined to gladiator fights, after restoring the permanent wooden floor boards. The exterior of the building was decorated with glistening gilded bronze shields, and the many arches were filled with painted statues of emperors and gods. Two grand entrances, one at each end of the minor axis, were used by the emperor, as well as by official presenters of shows and other important people. There were marble seats for the upper class while the lower classes had to be contended with wooden seats. A 15 feet high wall separated the spectators from the fighters in the arena as a move to prevent accidents. Stones from the Colosseum were removed during the Middle Ages to be used in other buildings. As a result of this, and also because of fires and earthquakes, two thirds of the original building has been destroyed, and the present Colosseum is only a shadow of its former glory. However, it is still one of the leading tourist attractions in the city and stands as a fine example of Roman architecture and engineering. The administrative centre of the country The Old Parliament in Colombo Fort was featured in our Landmarks page. This week, the spotlight falls on the New Parliament complex at Sri Jayawardhanapura-Kotte, the administrative capital of Sri Lanka.
It was President J.R. Jayewardene, who assumed power in 1977, and decided to build the new Parliament in Kotte. Geoffrey Bawa was invited to be the architect in 1979 with the condition that the project be completed by April 1982. After having a thorough look at the area, Bawa proposed that the Diyavanna Oya valley be flooded to create a 120-hectare lake and that the new Parliament be built on high ground on what would become an island at the lake's centre. He immediately got to work on developing the design concept. It was decided that the main debating chamber would be a symmetrical hall with government and opposition benches facing each other across the axis of the Speaker's chair. Poologasundram took over the management of the programme and at his suggestion, the construction project was let to the Japanese firm, Mitsui. The architectural firm Edwards, Reid and Begg was handed over the task of producing the necessary design drawings and specifications. Another reputed architect of the era, Vasantha Jacobson was also involved in the project. The design placed the main chamber in a central pavilion surrounded by five satellite pavilions, each defined by its own umbrella roof of copper, and seeming to grow out of its own plinth (base), although the plinths are actually connected at ground and first-floor level. The main pavilion houses the debating chamber. The satellite pavilion on the east is a large audience hall for public meetings; the one to the west contains the public entrance and security checkpoint. On the western side of the island, you can see the third pavilion, which contains staff facilities.The fourth pavilion, on the south, contains the service court. A fifth pavilion in the south-east corner contains the MPs' dining room above a car park and defines a large garden court facing east across the lake, connected to the members' terraces by an open staircase. The roofs resemble the traditional Kandyan roof. The use of copper in place of tile makes them thin and light. However, below the roof, the design is abstract Modernist. The ceiling is made from square tiles of aluminium, which are each hung individually from the supporting roof structure to ensure safety. The ground floor, set within the plinth, has a range of offices arranged around a central room. Ministers' and whips' offices are located at first-floor level on three sides of the main block, while the chamber is on the second floor, with members' lobbies to the east and west, and suites for the President and Prime Minister to the north. The third floor is for translators and journalists, while the fourth is a public gallery. The new Parliament was completed within the allotted three-year period
and opened as scheduled in April 1982. |
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The Colosseum (also known as Coliseum and Coloseum) was built around
72AD, during the reign of Emperor Vespasiano, as a pleasure palace, and
was opened in 80AD by his son, Titus. The oval-shaped ancient Roman sports
arena, the largest of its kind, was originally known as Amphitheatrum
Flavium. The name Colosseum is said to have come about due to the colossal
statue of Emperor Nero which stood nearby. 
The need for a new parliament was felt during the 1960s, as the chamber
of the old building was too small to seat the increasing number of elected
representatives. In 1974, the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government
commissioned a study and selected a site close to the old building, but
the project was eventually cancelled due to 'lack of funds'. 
