The Arles Amphitheatre (French: Arènes d’Arles) is a Roman amphitheatre in Arles, southern France. Two-tiered, it is probably the most prominent tourist attraction in the city which thrived in ancient Rome. The towers jutting out from the top are medieval add-ons.
Built in 90 AD, the amphitheatre held over 20,000 spectators of chariot races and bloody hand-to-hand battles. Nowadays, it draws smaller crowds for bullfighting during the Feria d’Arles, as well as plays and concerts in summer.
In 1981, Arles Amphitheatre was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with other Roman and medieval buildings of the city, as part of the Arles, Roman and Romanesque Monuments group.[
The building measures 136 m in length and 109 m wide, and features 120 arches. It has an oval arena surrounded by terraces, arcades on two levels (60 in all), bleachers, a system of galleries, drainage system in many corridors of access and staircases for a quick exit from the crowd. It was obviously[inspired by the Colosseum in Rome (in 72–80), being built slightly later (in 90).
Here is a photographic impression of the Amphitheatre in Arles.