Italy has earmarked over US$ 20 million to rebuild the arena floor in the Colosseum where gladiators once fought wild beasts, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini announced. The idea is that the arena could be used once more to house events and perhaps even re-enactments of spectacular Roman-era shows, while the area below where the beasts, scenery and props were kept would be turned into a museum. The planned arena reconstruction will not affect 48-meters high Colosseum walls, which continue to break down. The biggest amphitheater built during the Roman Empire, the Colosseum stands 48.5 meters high. In Rome times, up to 80 thousand spectators would throng there to see gladiator greats such as Carpophores -- who reportedly defeated a bear, lion, leopard and rhinoceros in one battle -- or cheer on mock sea battles held in the flooded arena. It now welcomes over six million visitors a year. Besides the Italian Government, in Colosseum restoration are engaged also philanthropists. Long-delayed repairs, funded to the tune of US$ 27.8 million by Italian billionaire Diego Della Valle, began in 2013 and are expected to be finished in early 2016. The Colosseum undertaking is just one of the country's US$ 89 million cultural maintenance projects, which includes US$ 20 million to update the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, $7.7 million to update Turin's Polo Reale museum, and $5.5 million to expedite the progress of Pisa's forthcoming museum of ancient ships.

The ancient Coliseum of Rome, where gladiators fought for their lives, is slanting about 40 centimeters lower on the south side than on the north, and authorities are investigating the project for urgent repairs. The Coliseum has been in need of restoration for years. Last year chunks of masonry and stone have regularly fallen from the arena. Authorities became aware of the tilt in the 2000-year-old amphitheatre about a year ago and have been monitoring it closely for the past couple of months. They believe that "dynamic vibrations" caused by Rome's heavy traffic, may be responsible for the drop on the south side next to one of Rome's busiest thoroughfares. Experts from Rome's Sapienza University and the Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering (IGAG) conducted an urgent scientific study to determine the cause. Professor Giorgio Monti, from Sapienza's department of structural engineering, said he fears there may be a crack in the base of the monument. "The concrete (Roman Cement) foundation on which the Colosseum is built is an oval-shaped 'doughnut' which is about 13 meters thick," ProfMonti said. "There could be a stress fracture inside it." On July 31 Lorenzo Ornaghi, Italy's culture minister, unveiled the timetable for the controversial restoration, flanked by Gianni Alemanno, the mayor of Rome, and Diego Della Valle, the billionaire businessman footing the bill, reported the Telegraph. In the first stage of the project, four floors of scaffolding are expected to cover the monument's arches for a total of 915 days - two-and-a-half years - as the ancient amphitheatre's facade and entrances are rebuilt. Culture officials however stressed the monument would remain open to the public during construction. The new project will also look at the "dynamic vibrations" that officials fear have caused a drop of up to 15 inches on the south side of the monument, although as yet there are no plans to address the list. The restoration also provides for the construction of a tourist service centre outside the monument, while the third phase includes restoration of the internal area and a more comprehensive restoration of the underground cells or hypogeum beneath the arena. The restoration works have been delayed by a series of protests by trade unionists over Italian tycoon Diego Della Valle's plans to clean up the dirt-streaked arena. In January, the billionaire threatened to pull US$ 32 million in financing following investigations into alleged irregularities. The three-year restoration project, which aims to increase by a quarter the areas to which tourists will have access, was supposed to begin in March. It was postponed to July and is now unlikely to start before the end of the year. Designed as a 50 thousand seat amphitheatre and completed in 80 AD under the Emperor Titus, the Colosseum was used for gladiator contests and mock sea battles. It is considered one of the masterpieces of Roman architecture. The number of visitors to the site has gone from around one million visitors a year to around six million annually over the past decade. The Leaning Tower of Pisa, another popular Itaian attraction was reopened last year after being shut for a long time as engineers worked to prevent it from falling over and to make it safe for visitors.

Armenian National Theater is located in the building of Yerevan State Institute of Theater and Cinema (YSITC). The theater was founded in 1991, received its state status in 2003, and though it has not got its own space, the theater’s style is unique, diverse, innovative and different. But the own stage gives each team greater creative freedom and opportunities. The foundation ceremony of the National Theater Building took place on 23rd of March this year. The building is still under construction and is likely to be commissioned in autumn 2020. The new theater is now built on 955 m2 area adjacent to YSITC. The developer and the investor of the National Theater building is “GM Developer” Ltd, and the architect is Isahak Nersisyan. According to the new design the National Theater Building will have a 290-seat hall. The total area of the theater building is 1800 m2. According to Isahak Nersisyan, the small space and the limited financial contribution did not allow to design a theater to suit the scale and the requirements of classical theaters but in general they got a building with all the necessary components for a theatrical activity. Like all theaters the National theater on its first floor will have a lobby, a cloakroom, lavatories, canteen, office space, rehearsal room, requisite warehouses, office access. The theater will also have a workshop for making decorations and some space is allocated at the back of the building for making larger props. An elevator is to be installed to move them to the second floor. By central staircase the audience will get on the second floor: the small lobby, actors’ rooms and the theater hall. The hall will be built in a traditional way, with a stage box 12 m high, stage lounges, professional lighting. The theater building is adapted for people with mobility problems: it will have an elevator, and for wheelchair spectators there will be special places in the hall. The entrance to the theater will be angular, glazed. The building is a little complicated, that is why in the design of the facade, no outstanding architectural solutions could be given. That is why a more restrained modern dynamic solution with irregular openings was chosen. The preference in designing the interior will be given to modern solutions. But the main feature of the theater will be the permanent exhibition dedicated to the life and work of the popular artist Sos Sargsyan.