The first stage of the Colosseum鈥檚 restoration has been completed, the Colosseum director Rossella Rea announced last week, adding that the first five restored arches will be unveiled on July 7.
Restoration work began last September on the area most blackened by modern-day chemical agents. The north arches are those closest to traffic and therefore the ones with thicker deposits of black coating caused by pollution.
Through the cleaning system, which uses no chemicals but ordinary Roman water directed at varying intensities from a few centimeters away, the ancient color of the Colosseum鈥檚 travertine stone is slowly resurfacing. Architect Gisella Capponi, the Colosseum restoration site manager, has described the overall hue as 鈥渁mberish鈥.
Completion of the 鈧25M restoration work on the Colosseum, which is funded by Tod鈥檚 CEO Diego Della Valle, is expected in five years.
