Splendour and Downfall

from Nov 19th 2022 to May 7th 2022

In 79 AD, one of the most famous tragedies of antiquity occurred. Pompeii, the Roman trading city on the Gulf of Naples, was buried under a layer of ash several metres thick when the nearby volcano Vesuvius erupted. Descriptions of the catastrophe have been handed down to us by Pliny the Younger, an 18-year-old contemporary witness whose uncle witnessed the eruption.

The special exhibition invites visitors to experience the everyday life of the people in the once rich Roman city of Pompeii and the last hours until its demise. Immersive video installations guide visitors through the houses and courtyards at the foot of the volcano and illustrate the splendour of the wall paintings that have been found, which fascinate not only archaeologists.

The ruins, the everyday objects and the people perfectly preserved in the ashes to this day tell of the dramatic downfall of a city that is still considered one of the richest archaeological treasure troves in the world. Replicas of the ash corpses illustrate the misfortune of the people who remained in their homes until the very end.