The city of Paris is home to one of its calmest little parks; a place once hosted deadly battles that were witnessed by thousands of people at that time. While there may have been neon lights and loud announcements to get people there back then, now all that remains is evidence that cities can completely change but still honor their history.
The park is tucked away and you can expect to find people playing various types of games like the French game ‘pétanque,’ playing with a round ball, or simply enjoying the warm sun. However, the history of this park goes back long before Paris was even a thought; it is located where the ancient Roman Arena used to exist and was a site for large crowds and brutal entertainment.
Long before the city of Paris looked as it does today, it was part of the Roman Empire and the Arena, “Arènes de Lutèce”, was one of the main social sites for Romans; Gladiators fighting each other, theatrical performances, and even performing with water that was drained from the arena or filled with water at some points. This would not be what most would imagine when they think of Paris today.
Like everything else related to Ancient Empires, it could not last forever.
After invasions and centuries of change, the arena was damaged, rebuilt, and eventually forgotten. The growing city slowly buried it, layer by layer, until it disappeared completely from everyday life. For a long time, no one walking above had any idea what was hidden beneath their feet.
Paris experienced a huge transformation during the 1800s, with the city being ripped apart for the purpose of modernization. As the workers were in the process of destroying the city to create a new layout, they stumbled upon the ruins of the Roman amphitheatre. In response to this discovery, a group of writers and thinkers, one being Victor Hugo, came together and fought to have the ruins preserved instead of being destroyed. They argued that this building was not just a pile of rubble, but evidence of a story that was much older than them, and their argument succeeded, so the amphitheatre was left standing in its original place. This moment helped shape an overall agenda for Paris—progress does not always mean destroying the past.
Another remnant of Roman culture, very close to the amphitheatre, is the public baths. This building was built to hold a large number of people and function as a recreational area for individuals to Bathe, exercise, and socialize with one another. Because most homes did not have running water at this time, the public baths were extremely important; however, the public baths also had a significant amount of engineering built into their structure to bring in water from great distances, install a heating system, and have separate rooms for temperature.
Like the coliseum, the baths suffered periodic damage, periods of reconstruction, and changes in use. Some original parts of the baths have survived to the present day as part of a museum exhibit.
What’s fascinating about these sites is that they change your perspective. It is easy to think of ancient civilizations as distant and abstract, but when you are physically in these spaces, it becomes real. You are able to visualize what these people would have looked like, what was important to them, and just how advanced the societies were.
The Roman Empire once had an enormous area of power throughout much of Europe; it felt as though it would never end. Then, relatively quickly, most of that power disappeared and now all we have left are these remnants of what was once such a grand empire. There are all kinds of fortifications built by the Romans—large impressive structures, turned into ruins, and later discovered hundreds of years later.
The coliseum is no longer about survival; it is now about enjoyment. The baths are no longer about surviving; they are about learning about the past. And the surrounding city continues to move forward while adding layers upon layers of new history onto the top of older history.
What you will likely hear most while in these sites is laughter and the sound of balls hitting the ground.
