Historical landmark
Palais Gallien
Roman amphitheatre ruin of stone and brick arches, its walls still pierced by sockets for a lost timber grandstand.
0:00≈ 2 min
Location
0:00≈ 2 min
About this audio guide
This guide to the Palais Gallien in Bordeaux starts with a puzzle: ancient sources give three different capacities for this Roman amphitheatre, ranging from fifteen thousand to twenty-two thousand seats. It walks the surviving stone arches, built in the Roman technique of alternating limestone and brick, and the rows of square putlog holes cut into the inner walls where a timber grandstand once slotted in. You'll hear how Roman builders here skipped the stone seating tiers used at Nimes and Arles in favor of wood. Look for those empty sockets still lining the walls today.
This audio guide was created using AI.