Replica of a lift used at the Rome Colosseum

Did you know that back in the heyday of Rome’s Colosseum gladiator fights that they actually used elevators to transport the lions into the arena ahead of the fights?

We learn something new each day!

Apparently, there were 24 original elevators used at the Colosseum that were all manually-operated during the 1st and 3rd centuries AD to transport lions and other animals including leopards, bears, wolves, ostriches and deer! Bet they provided a challenge to actually get them into the lifts too!

They certainly had a strange idea of entertainment didn’t they? We are huge fans of animals here at Sheridan Lifts and we don’t condone any kind of blood sports. But after a 15 month restoration project, one of the ancient lifts used in the amphitheatre has been fully restored to working order. Here it is below.

Replica of a lift used at the Rome Colosseum

Back in the day the lift needed eight men to operate it with a couple more to check on the ropes – and with 24 lifts in the Colosseum that’s a lot of man power! Thankfully, lift modernisation and lift upgrades have a come a long way since then and thanks to hydraulics we can now travel up numerous floors with just the push of a button. You could say we are a little spoilt!

One can only imagine the man power the Romans would’ve needed to lift a lion or a person 20 floors. If only the Romans could see our lift installations now!

Like I said, lift engineering has come a long way since 3AD (thankfully) and here at Sheridan Lifts we offer a comprehensive range of modernisation and refurbishment packages for all makes and types of lifts.

So, don’t be stuck in the past – get your lift modernisation sorted and ensure that your lift is a roaring success. Did you like what I did there?