The last hours of Pompeii at a memorial for the victims of the eruption

There is a question that any visitor of Pompeii asks itself: what were the moments of the eruption? A rigorous narrative, scientific e profoundly human transform the tragedy of 79 AD in a everlasting memorial. Dal March 12, 2026the Big Lecture of the excavations of Pompeii will host a permanent museum setup dedicated to victims of the eruptionreturning a for the first time punctual chronology of events through the exposure of 22 casts and a selection of organic finds.

Il path: from the volcanology all’humanity of the remains. L’exposure is divided along i north and south porticoes of the ancient building dedicated to the education of citizens. The southern arm is reserved for volcanological sectionwhere a unreleased video and the reconstruction of one column of ash and lapilli 4 meters high illustrate the dynamics of burial of the city. This section also contains collections of flora and faunatestimony to the relationship between the inhabitants and the natural resources of the time.

The casts of Pompeii: a snapshot of death

Il north arm instead it welcomes the most sensitive nucleus of the exhibition: i human remains. Here they were selected 22 castschosen for readability e state of conservationcoming both from domus interne both from escape routes outside the walls. There techniqueperfected by Giuseppe Fiorelli In the 1863allowed to fill with the gesso the voids left by decomposition of bodies in the solidified ashcrystallizing themoment of death.

The pain that regains body and figure

Il visitor is faced with what the writer Luigi Settembriniin the 19th century, defined the “… pain of death which regains body and shape”, specifying that it is not “non-art, non-imitation; but theirs bonethe relics of theirs carne and of them cloths mixed with gesso“. Also Primo Leviin poetry The little girl from Pompeiicalled this “endless agony, terrible testimony”.

An installation between rigor and sensitivity

The museographic choiceedited by Archaeological Parkpoint to sobriety. L’use of color is reduced to a minimum and the section dedicated to victims is protected by dividersallowing the public to consciously choose whether or not to face the vision of tragic find.

The civil value of the work according to Minister Giuli

Il Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuliunderlined the civil value of the work:

“I was struck by the great setup scientific rigorthe ability to return the raw truth dell’eruption of Pompeii and theexpressiveness of the casts. And at the same time therespectful attitude towards victimsthrough one gallery of pain which gives us back the truth as in a contemporary shrinebecause all the tragedy that happen for natural disasters are condensed in this magnificent, terrifying and explanatory representation that the director and all the magnificent staff of Archaeological park they offered us. It’s one courageous display because it is also extremely contemporary. It’s not easy there representation of deathit is not easy to show off the nudity of the casts of bodies overwhelmed by ashes, lapilli e lava. You have to know how to do it and know how to tell it to someone scientific gaze but at the same time empathetic towards the pain. And there mission succeeded”.

The ethical challenge and accessibility

L’setup integra modern diagnostic technologiesas images taken from TAC performed on castse historical documentsincluding the interview with Amedeo Maiuri and fragments of Rossellini’s cinema. Il General Director of the Park, Gabriel breeding bardefined the project as the largest museological challenge never addressed by the institution:

“We looked for a museographic language that combines the touching simplicity of a memorialbecause we did not want in any way to give up thehuman and ethical aspectwith the joy of discovery through inclusive teaching equipment and easily understandable. THE casts of the victims they are not artefacts, they are not statues and they are not works of art, neither ancient nor contemporary art. To say what we are, perhaps one phrase is enough, once uttered by a colleague on an excavation where we discovered a victim: this is us. We can see in the casts of children, women and men who died in the 79 d.C. our fragilityours humanity e vulnerability: therefore, from a respectful meeting with these testimonies, which we have tried to make possible with the new setupa profound message: the life is precarious, preciousthe life is beautiful”.

A fully accessible memorial

Il memorial it was designed to be fully accessiblecon video in LIS e ISLtools Alternative Augmented Communication (AAC) e tactile sections con 3D models e texts in Brailleensuring that the memory of Pompeii be a truly shared heritage.