Restoring Pompeii One Villa At a Time

Historically treasured as the “city under ashes,” Pompeii has yet to finishdiscovering new cultural and architectural gems that have enticed

visitors from across the globe for decades. In the year 79 A.D. the fate ofone of the most celebrated roman cities was put to ashes once theperceived “mountain” or Mt.Vesuvius erupted, leaving many citizens

dead and buried houses with nothing but ash around the city. Althoughthis society may have been perceived as the Roman empire’s “dead city,”

gradual historical discovering continue to challenge the ancienttreasure’s title of being long forgotten.

Roman fresco Villa dei Misteri

In addition to Pompeii hosting a range of Roman masterpieces,artifacts such as mosaics or frescoes are widely dispersed across theancient empire, with these forms of history maintaining traditionfrom Italica in southern Spain all the way to corners of NorthernAfrica. The organization called the “Grand Pompeii Project,” hasnewly discovered and restored six ancient Roman villas that havebeen a masked secret of the ancient world for centuries. Thisorganizational body’s sole purpose is to safely discover and

effectively restore remnants of Roman’s past that happen to be inneed of some repair work, while simultaneously preserving thehistorical essence of the architectural work or artistic piece.

The primary focus of this initiative is to further discover, restore andmaintain Pompeii’s most valuable architectural or culturally richremnants of the Roman empire. In terms of the newly restoredhistorical landmarks, some of these repaired works include a

merchant’s lavish house, a thermal bathing structure and a businessthat sold fabric to neighborhood shops or home owners. Thesediscoveries offer an insightful look into the day to day lives ofPompeii locals as they function under the umbrella of one of the

most powerful dynasties in human history.

Although the restoration processwas not always the mostfunctioning way to repair ruins, ithas come a long way since agenerous donation of 142 millionback in 2010 when UNESCOhinted at titling certain sites in thecity as “at risk of destruction.” Inaddition to more substantialfunding that has the capability ofreopening more lavish livingquarters or fresco paintings to thepublic, this initiative also hascalled for more skilled,professional workers that fullyunderstand how to implementrepair processes.

The superintendent of the CulturalHeritage Observer, MassimoOssana states that “Pompeii is acity, but a city of ruins. And ruins aredoomed to crumble,” says Pompeiisuperintendent Massimo Ossana,the AAP reports. “Our job is to keepalive a dead city.”With thisrestoration initiative, it seemshopeful that tourists, locals andhistorians alike can furtherappreciate the intricate textilemosaics that will grace the eyes ofmany who wish to experiencePompeii, one of Roman Empire’sfinest cities.