Pompeii going on display @ the Field this Saturday

[Steff]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationw...nationworld-hed

 

 

Pompeii's ruins rise to tell tale of horror

Field exhibit gives tragedy a human face

 

By William Mullen

Tribune staff reporter

Published October 18, 2005

 

 

About 1 a.m. on Aug. 24 in A.D. 79, tremors radiating from Mt. Vesuvius' cone-shaped slopes began rattling the walls and rousing the occupants of houses, inns, barracks and brothels in little farm and fishing towns and cities along southern Italy's Bay of Naples.

 

In the dark, a column of smoke and ash began to rise from the volcano, eventually reaching 20 miles into the atmosphere and blocking out the sun as the day went on. Residents of the city of Pompeii and the nearby towns of Heraculaneum, Oplontis, Boscoreale and Terzigno sought routes of escape by road or by sea.

 

The remains of a few of the thousands of people who did not make it go on display Saturday at the Field Museum in a major traveling exhibit, "Pompeii: Stories from an Eruption." The exhibit includes casts of the dead whose contortions capture their agony and horror as they were crushed by volcanic ash and debris almost 2,000 years ago.

 

The exhibit, mounted in Italy, includes more than 450 artifacts excavated from communities that in two days were buried and nearly obliterated from memory. It is the first major Pompeii show to come through Chicago since an exhibit of 550 artifacts, heavily concentrated on artworks, appeared at the Art Institute in 1978.

 

Rediscovered in the early 18th Century, the ruins are so well preserved that the homes, shops, theaters and temples stayed almost perfectly intact, providing an intimate picture of life, art and culture in Roman times.

 

"We try to stick to the notion that these are human stories that we are telling in the exhibit," said Francesca Madden, the project manager who directed the installation of exhibit artifacts last week. "It emphasizes the human tragedy. Some people died alone, others trying to protect loved ones."

 

"In this house, seven men died," she said, stopping at a display of a modest home that once stood in the town of Oplontis on Pompeii's outskirts. "These were workmen, so they had very few personal effects with them of any value except for their keys."

 

Whether they had been at the house to work or had ducked inside seeking refuge from the eruption is unclear.

 

"Having their keys with them has a certain poignancy for me," said Madden, "as it suggests their identification with their homes and their expectations that day of having safely locked their doors so that they could return and find everything intact."

 

Wealthy residents also perished, in some cases still clutching fortunes they carried as they tried to flee. Among the riches displayed in the exhibit are bags of gold and silver coins, perfectly preserved jewelry and small, valued objets d'art.

 

Using sections of excavated walls from buried buildings, the exhibit depicts everyday life in Roman society. The destruction was so swift that frescoes and mosaics depicting local scenes and mythical Roman gods and goddesses often retain their brilliant colors.

 

 

More at link above.

[kapkomet]

I saw this when we were looking for things to do when we were up there in September that it was coming. It looks like a pretty neat exhibit.

[FlaSoxxJim]

That will be very cool.

[RibbieRubarb]

Having been to Pompeii many times, let me tell you that they are displaying more herethan you get to see if you went to Italy yourself.

A lot of these artifacts are not on display there.

This is a great opportunity to see history!

[southsider2k5]

I really want to get up there and see this. Hopefully I will have the time.