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Almost 2,000 years after it was destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius, Pompeii still captures the imagination. For as Dr Tiziana Rocco, of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, said last week, it provides the most complete picture of an ancient Roman city. Dr Rocco was in Canberra for the opening of Pompeii: Inside A Lost City at the National Museum of Australia.
So complete is the picture that you’ll even see a half-eaten loaf of bread, preserved at the very moment disaster struck, providing details about not just the diet of Pompeii’s people but also about social hierarchy and how people went about their daily lives. (The bread that wealthier people ate was fluffier, like the one on display, whereas the poor ate unleavened flatbreads. Moreover, people ate out a lot, rather than cooking at home. About 80 bakeries have so far been uncovered.)
Laurent Dondey, of the Grand Palais Immersif in Paris, the original creator of the exhibition, says Pompeii is an open book to which we keep adding pages. The exhibition, he says, is all about prioritizing a narrative – telling these everyday stories – but doing so with a scientific background. At last week’s opening, he delivered the ultimate accolade when he said that the National Museum exhibition might even be better than when it was shown in Paris.
National Museum of Australia curator, Dr Lily Withycombe, hopes the exhibition may inspire people, just like she was inspired by Pompeii when she was a young girl. Attending a Pompeii exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney in 1995 shaped the course of her life, inspiring her to study archaeology and subsequently travel to Pompeii to work on the excavations.
Leading the co-ordination of the current exhibition, she had the honour of going to Pompeii to help in the selection of the 90 objects that accompany the multi-media presentations. Most have never been shown in Australia before, and they are beautifully displayed in a series of four ‘rooms’, each with a different theme.
One represents the home of a wealthy citizen, the House of Julius Polybius; one a house with a garden, one a house with frescoes, and one tells the story of ongoing excavations, especially the past decade when significant discoveries have been made. Between these four spaces lies a central walkway that gives the impression of walking down the Corso (main avenue) of Pompeii, just like people did all those years ago.
Every 15 minutes, a 6-metre-tall volcano at the end of the Corso erupts, immersing visitors in the full fury and power of the catastrophe. Combined with projections recreating scenes and sounds from daily life, it’s a unique sensory experience.
“Ancient objects link our past to our present and new technologies allow us to do this in new ways,” says Dr Withycombe. “For three centuries, excavations on the Pompeii archaeological site have uncovered extraordinary traces of everyday life, such as jewellery, sculptures and pottery, which serve as poignant reflections of the lives shattered on the day Mount Vesuvius erupted.
“More recently, excavations have unearthed large, elegant homes, such as the House with the Garden with its amazing frescoes and graffiti, the House of Leda and the Swan, and the House of Orion. All these new sites are represented in the exhibition.
“These objects focus on the very real human experience inside the exhibition. Visitors will see themselves reflected in ancient Pompeii through relatable objects, such as cookware and tweezers.”
Having been to Pompeii several times, I’ve always come away feeling quite overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the site. Seeing Pompeii: Inside A Lost City enables you to get a broad overview of the city, and to forge a stronger connection with it. As residents of a well-to-do seaside town, the people of Pompeii had lovely jewellery, decorated drinking cups, wall paintings, and garden statutory – all the accroutrements that people surround themselves with even today.
Despite the detail in their craftsmanship, most of the objects in the exhibition are modest in size, which personally I found very appealing as they tell a story without the viewer being overwhelmed by grandeur. Says Laurent Dondey, “It’s all about celebrating the beauty of Pompeii.”
Pompeii: Inside A Lost City is a ticketed exhibition which will continue at the National Museum of Australia until May 4, 2025.
If you go:
What? Pompeii: Inside A Lost City
When? Till 4 May 2025.
Where? National Museum of Australia
Lawson Cres, Acton ACT 2601
Australia
Ticket information: www.nma.gov.au
