Szablyár Péter: Step by step - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2010)
From amphitheatres to the stadium of the people
slopes of dirt terraces, the patricians could sit down in roofed stalls to watch the battles waged in the large, central arena. Political conventions and animal baiting events were also held here. The ’’actors" were let in via two gates along the east- west axis. Standing by the west gate was the statue of Nemesis, divine patroness of amphitheatre games. It is regrettable that there are no inscriptions of any sort to inform the visitor of all this on the premises. The military amphitheatre stands a few metres away from the busy thoroughfare of Lajos utca. The axes of its elliptical arena are 66 and go metres long. Incredible as it may be, its circumference includes a larger area than that of the world-famous Coliseum in Rome. Its function was similar to that of its "sister institution” in the civic town as the arena hosted gladiatorial contests, animal baiting events, theatrical performances and athletic games. Its capacity reached 13 thousand, which was very large by contemporaneous standards. The spectators could reach the arena via some really impressive stairs. It took seventeen centuries for the capital of Hungary to have its own circular arena admitting tens of thousands of spectators when the gigantic "People's Stadium" was built, also in accordance with the principle of panem et circenses, with terraces seating crowds of nearly seventy thousand. Construction work on it started in 1948 on the basis of designs made by architect Károly Dávid jr and static engineer Jenő Gilyén. The huge concrete arc is supported by 18 pylons which also house the stair■ The people'i ótadium 46
