User Reviews
The first written mention of Sokolov is from 1279 under a name Falkenau / Falknov. The town was a property of noble families of Nothaft and later Schlick. The Schlick family built here a small castle.
The current palace was built after 1663 in the late renaissance style on the groundwork of the former castle of the Schlick era surrounded by water canal, that was heavily damaged during the Thirty Year's War. To the time period of this reconstruction belongs also the fountain standing in the central courtyard bearing the coats of arms of Jan Hartvik Nostic and his wife Maria Eleonora Popel of Lobkowitz. Originally the palace had two gates and cupolas on the towers. It was encircled by a water canal, surrounded by a park decorated with sculptures and a deer-park. In 19th century it was remodeled in the classicist and later architectonic styles; that's when the towers got the recent typical spires. In 1619 it hosted the so called 'Winter King' Friedrich of Falconia, also the Emperor Joseph I with his wife Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick stayed here in 1702. In 1945 it was the headquarters of the American Army that liberated the region annexed to the German territory in the time period of 1938-1945. Since 1960 the Sokolov palace is the seat of the Regional Museum which specializes in the history of the region, the history of mining and related geology and ecology.
References:The Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls was part of the federal sanctuary of the three Gauls dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus celebrated by the 60 Gallic tribes when they gathered at Lugdunum (Lyon). The amphitheatre was built at the foot of the La Croix-Rousse hill at what was then the confluence of the Rhône and Saône.
Excavations have revealed a basement of three elliptical walls linked by cross-walls and a channel surrounding the oval central arena. The arena was slightly sloped, with the building"s south part supported by a now-vanished vault. The arena"s dimensions are 67,6m by 42m. This phase of the amphitheatre housed games which accompanied the imperial cult, with its low capacity (1,800 seats) being enough for delegations from the 60 Gallic tribes.
The amphitheatre was expanded at the start of the 2nd century. Two galleries were added around the old amphitheatre, raising its width from 25 metres to 105 metres and its capacity to about 20,000 seats. In so doing it made it a building open to the whole population of Lugdunum and its environs.