Restored Pompeii gladiator building open to public

ROME — A 2,000-year-old building where gladiators trained in Pompeii is now open to visitors, eight years after its collapse following rainfall.

The Pompeii archaeological site said the public can tour the Schola Armaturarum on Thursdays. Experts will explain their painstaking restoration of damaged frescoes that decorated the site where gladiators trained before combat in the ancient Roman city.

Its opening was hailed by Italy’s culture ministry as the “symbolic place of Pompeii’s rebirth,” following years of dismaying news that various ruins had crumbled amid modern-day neglect of the sprawling, once-flourishing city that was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

The building had also suffered heavy damage from World War II Allied bombing.

Several recent exciting finds by archaeologists point to better days for the popular Pompeii tourist site.

The Associated Press

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