Conservation Issues at Pompeii and Herculaneum

1 Conservation issues at Pompeii and Herculaneum Dr Louise Zarmati, University of Western Sydney ______

Part 1: Recovery • Rebuilding & Reconstruction • Restoration and Repair Conservation. Part 2: Examples

Part 3: Sample exam question ______Part 1: Processes

1. Recovery

2. Rebuilding and Reconstruction

3. Restoration and Repair

4. Conservation ______1. Recovery

What is ‘Recovery’?

• Different processes of ‘excavation’

• Changed over time

• From tunnelling, to digging to systematic excavation

• 200 years

• Different methods at Pompeii and Herculaneum

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Giuseppe Fiorelli Director, 1863-67

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2. Rebuilding & Reconstruction

What is ‘Rebuilding’?

• Rebuilding - more meaningful to visitors

• Began with Spinazzola –Via dell’Abbondanza 2 • Continued by Maiuri

• Herculaneum – Fascist period ‘New Excavations’

• Pompeii – Villa of the Mysteries

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Amedeo Maiuri, Director 1924-61

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Houses excavated and rebuilt during Fascist period

• House of the Menander

• House of the Surgeon

• Villa of the Mysteries ______Herculaneum

• Plundering, 1782

• Tunnels

• ‘New Excavations’ from 1927

• ‘Open-air museum’

• Huge funds from Mussolini’s Fascist government

• 50% rebuilt

• Maiuri influenced by Knossos?

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House of the Telephus Relief

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3. Restoration 3 What is ‘Restoration’?

• ‘The act of returning something to its former condition’.

• Process of mending, fixing or repairing buildings that have deteriorated or collapsed.

• Can apply to buildings that had been recovered and rebuilt.

• Restoring houses that had been rebuilt in 1930s .

• Schola Armaturarum* (aka ‘House of the Gladiators’)

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4. Conservation

What is ‘Conservation’?

• Prevention of decay, waste, or loss; preservation

• Stopping or slowing down process of deterioration.

• Herculaneum Conservation nightmare, 2000

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Herculaneum Conservation Project

• Joint project between Soprintendenza, British School in Rome and Packard Humanities Institute

• Problems: How to conserve? What to conserve first? How to present to the public? Villa of the Papyri - to dig or not to dig?

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Example: Villa of the Mysteries

1. 1909 – Recovery

2. 1929 – Recovery, Rebuild, Restore

3. 2014 – Conservation 4

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Villa of the Mysteries, Conservation, 2014

• See article in Archaeology Magazine, March/April 2014

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Summary

• 1910 – 24 – Spinazzola - Via dell’ Abbondanza – Recover, Rebuild, Reconstruct

• 1924 – 61- Maiuri – interpret for the public - Recover, Rebuild, Reconstruct

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• 1960s – ‘80s – Restore, Repair & Conserve

• 2000s – Restore, Repair & Conserve

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Using what you have learnt today... to practise an HSC examination response.

3 Investigating, reconstructing and preserving the past

• changing methods and contributions of nineteenth and twentieth century archaeologists to our understanding of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

• changing interpretations: impact of new research and technologies.

• issues of conservation and reconstruction: Italian and international contributions and responsibilities; impact of tourism.

• ethical issues: study and display of human remains.

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Sample Question (10 marks)

With reference to Source D and your own knowledge, explain how reconstruction and tourism in the twentieth century have led to conservation problems today at Pompeii and Herculaneum.