Details
Founded: 1855Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Latvia
Historical period: Part of the Russian Empire (Latvia)
User Reviews
Kalma manor was built as a hunting lodge for Baron Fedor von Medem after he acquired the estate in 1855. It was quickly repaired after being damaged by fire in 1905. Between 1906 and 1912, it was restored according to the project of architect G. Berchi. The most recent restoration was completed in 2004, the building then being made available for public event rentals. A museum with exhibits on milk production is located in one of the other estate buildings.
References:Built around AD 90 to entertain the legionaries stationed at the fort of Caerleon (Isca), the impressive amphitheatre was the Roman equivalent of today’s multiplex cinema. Wooden benches provided seating for up to 6,000 spectators, who would gather to watch bloodthirsty displays featuring gladiatorial combat and exotic wild animals.
Long after the Romans left, the amphitheatre took on a new life in Arthurian legend. Geoffrey of Monmouth, the somewhat imaginative 12th-century scholar, wrote in his History of the Kings of Britain that Arthur was crowned in Caerleon and that the ruined amphitheatre was actually the remains of King Arthur’s Round Table.
Today it is the most complete Roman amphitheatre in Britain.