Here we are with another installment of “365 Things to do in Cincinnati“. Today I’m giving you a sneak peek at the Cincinnati Museum Center’s newest exhibit – A Day in Pompeii.
A Day in Pompeii is a collection of more than 250 priceless ancient artifacts from the Roman city of Pompeii and its surrounding areas.
The exhibit pieces were all buried in time with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79. Remarkably, it was the same ash and debris from Vesuvius’s eruption that destroyed the city AND preserved it. The city remained buried and forgotten until the 1700′s.
When you see these pieces you will be amazed by their condition. It’s truly hard to believe these pieces were buried for that many years.
The Cincinnati Museum Center always impresses me with the attention to detail in their exhibits. There are Romanesque columns and borders all around. One section of the exhibit actually has a “sky” panel in the ceiling to mimic a Pompeii home, which typically had an open area looking up to the sky.
Pompeii’s archaeological treasures rarely leave Italy, and this national touring exhibit marks the first time that these rare treasures will come to the region. Cincinnati Museum Center is the only stop in the Midwest. We are truly lucky to live so close!
I found the “bodies” section to be quite interesting. It seems that archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli (who ran the excavation from 1860-1875) discovered that the bodies of people and animals smothered by ash had disintegrated, leaving cavities in the earth. Fiorelli and his team poured liquid plaster into these “molds”/cavities and created these casts of people in their last moments.
This exhibit is HUGE, covering 15,000 square feet. It includes lots of art and painted pieces, sculptures, items from the daily lives of the people of Pompeii, busts, furniture pieces… the list goes on and on. The exhibit features multiple informational videos along the way as well as a few interactive displays.
“A Day in Pompeii” opens March 2, 2012 and runs all the way through ’til August 12, 2012. Ticket prices and hours can be found here.
The Cincinnati Museum Center is located at 1301 Western Avenue
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