Quick summary of the place: it was a huge arena in Roman times, and one of the premier attractions of the old Roman Paris (Lutetia). They probably put on plays and fighting matches. A lot of the stones were taken apart after the city fell/was abandoned to the Germanic tribes and more of it was destroyed in the building of modern Paris. There was a convent on top of it for hundreds of years but after it was closed the ruins were rediscovered, sometime in the mid 19th c. My favorite, Victor Hugo, was one of the people who campaigned for its restoration but there has never really been that much interest in it. Now you can see some of the seating and some wall and some of the niches.
More than one Google review of the place says it's a horrible place because of all the loud, obnoxious kids who play there.
It's evident the city doesn't care too much about these ruins because almost all the people who were there were either kids playing soccer or young men playing bocci in the middle of the arena, or people sunbathing on the outside.
The only real indicator of what this place once was is these random couple of neo-classical statues (sorry this picture was taken super zoomed-in so it didn't come out well).
So here are some shots of the ruins:
I believe these are partially reconstructed and that they're the "niches" but I might be wrong...someone better at Roman architecture would know better.
This is when you come in the side entrances on the ground level:
A closer view of the opposite entry. Obviously these cut outs in the stone are not original - the bleachers would have covered the area that is open now.
The walkways around the arena are really peaceful and pretty.
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