POMPEII, Italy (AP) – Decades after bombing and earthquake damage, the Pompeii Museum has been reborn, presenting refined discoveries from the excavations of the ancient Roman city.
Officials of the archeological park of the ruins of the city destroyed in 79 AD. through the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, they inaugurated the museum on Monday.
Known as the Antiquarium, the museum offers Pompeii a permanent exhibition space. Visitors can see sections of frescoed walls in the city’s excavated villas, examples of graffiti discovered by archaeologists, as well as household objects, from silver spoons to bronze heaters, elements of everyday life, volcanic eruption.
First opened around 1873, the Antiquarium was damaged by bombing during World War II and again in 1980, when a deadly earthquake shook the Naples area. Since the earthquake, the museum had been closed, although it was reopened in 2016 as a space for temporary exhibitions.
Antiquarium displays also document the history of Pompeii as a settlement several centuries before it became a thriving Roman city.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions in Italy, currently only visitors to the Italian region of Campania, which includes the Naples area and the ruins of Pompeii, can see the museum.
Pompeii is one of Italy’s top tourist attractions, and when mass tourism finally resumes, tickets to the ruins will also include a visit to the Antiquarium.
The reopening of the museum after so many decades of work is “a sign of great hope at a very difficult time,” said Massimo Osanna, Pompe’s longtime director. He referred to the severe blow that the pandemic’s travel restrictions had on tourism, one of the largest sources of income in Italy.
In the last hall of the museum are exhibited agitated pieces made from the remains of some residents of Pompeii who tried to flee, but were overwhelmed by volcanic gas explosions or beaten by a rain of lava stones expelled by Vesuvius.
“I find particularly touching the last room, the one dedicated to the eruption and where the objects deformed by the heat of the eruption, the victims ‘throws, the animals’ throws are exposed,” said Osanna. “Indeed, it is touched by the hand of the incredible drama that was the eruption of 79 AD.”
The large frames in Pompeii remain to be excavated. While tourism virtually stopped during the pandemic, archaeologists continued to work.
Just a month ago, Osanna revealed the discovery of an ancient fast food restaurant in Pompeii. Completely excavated, the discovery helped reveal some popular dishes among the citizens of the ancient city, who apparently were partial to eating out, including what was on the menu on the day Pompeii was destroyed.
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D’Emilio reported from Rome.