After years of work, the Pompeii Antiquities Museum is finally reborn from its ashes

It's a real renaissance for the Pompeii Antiquities Museum.

Built in 1873, ravaged by an Allied bombardment in 1943, rebuilt and then destroyed again in an earthquake in 1980, the Antiquarium has enjoyed a turbulent existence - in every bad sense of the word.

Closed for 36 years and partially reopened in 2016, this establishment has just inaugurated this Monday, brand new galleries dedicated to the permanent collections of the museum.

A return to normal, partly short-circuited by the Covid crisis.

Read also: Pompei: a thermopolium decorated with superb polychrome patterns, discovered intact

Dedicated to the rich history of the city of Pompeii, the Antiquarium collections have been the subject of a route inspired by what it was before the Second World War, and which retraces, according to a chronological plan, the different periods of the city.

From the archaic osques origins of the agglomeration, in the 7th-6th centuries BC.

AD, until the Roman imperial era which saw it disappear, during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

AD, the refurbished galleries of the museum now exhibit vestiges such as the frescoes of the Via dell'Abbondanza, those of the House of the Golden Bracelet or even Moregine's silver tableware and the furniture of the

triclinium

- the dining room - from the Maison de Ménandre.

Read also: Discovering the forgotten Roman villas on the slopes of Vesuvius

Magic amulets

Several of these exhibits come in particular from excavations carried out in recent years, under the direction of Massimo Osanna, who should swap in the coming months the head of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii for that of the Italian museums.

Source of many curiosities, the treasure of amulets and gris-gris discovered in a box of the Maison au Jardin, excavated in 2019-2020 in a then unexplored area of ​​Pompeii, is undoubtedly one of the most astonishing sets to have joined the collections of the Antiquarium.

"

It is one of the most curious things that we discovered during our research

" declared Monday to AFP Massimo Osanna, during the opening of the museum.

An esoteric curiosity since, as the chief archaeologist explains, these amulets “

seem to have belonged to a woman or a man who had recourse to magic.

“True“

sorcerer's treasures

”, these amulets caused a sensation when their discovery was announced in the summer of 2019.

• 1/6 - In the new rooms of the Antiquarium of Pompeii.

  Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Francesco-Squeglia

• 2/6 - In the new rooms of the Antiquarium of Pompeii.

  Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Francesco-Squeglia

• 3/6 - In the new rooms of the Antiquarium of Pompeii.

  Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Francesco-Squeglia

• 4/6 - In the new rooms of the Antiquarium of Pompeii.

  Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Francesco-Squeglia

• 5/6 - In the new rooms of the Antiquarium of Pompeii.

  Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Francesco-Squeglia

• 6/6 - In the new rooms of the Antiquarium of Pompeii.

  Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo / Parco Archeologico di Pompei / Francesco-Squeglia

Other recent discoveries are also featured in the museum's new collections, such as the frescoes in the House of Orion as well as the plaster casts of the new ancient remains found in the villas of Civita Giuliana, in outskirts of Pompeii.

A large part of these objects recently passed through Paris last year for the “Pompeii” exhibition at the Grand Palais.

In addition to being accessible to tourists who come to visit Pompeii, the location of the museum on the edge of the ancient city makes it easy to store the most recent finds, rather than sending them to the Archaeological Museum of Naples which concentrates the bulk of the remains. historical excavations.

Read also: Pompeii, sensational new images of the latest discoveries

An attendance gone up in smoke

The reopening of the Antiquarium, as happy as it may be, does not risk changing much in the immediate attendance of the site.

Once again accessible to the public since January 18, like all Italian museums, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii remains desperately under-visited for the time being, "

almost deserted

" according to AFP journalists dispatched to the site. for the opening of the museum.

An observation shared by Massimo Osanna.

"

We have lost 80% of our visitors, and therefore 80% of our ticketing revenue

," he told the press agency on Monday.

In recent years, the annual number of visitors to the historic site has risen to around 4 million.

The Archaeological Park can still count on subsidies from the Italian State to cushion the shock of the crisis affecting the entire European cultural sector.

And although its reopening sounds for the museum as the end point of a recent history that has turned upside down, it will probably still be necessary to wait for the end of the epidemic to see the cobbled streets of Pompeii again buried under the soles of the curious and some tourists.