Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum at The British Museum

In AD 79, two cities on the Bay of Naples in southern Italy were buried by a catastrophic volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in just 24 hours. This event ended the lives of the cities, but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists some 1700 years later. The first ever major exhibition on these cities held at the British Museum, and the first such major exhibition in London for almost 40 years, Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum sees over 250 fascinating objects come to the grand institution, some of which have never been seen before outside Italy. The exhibition will have a unique focus: looking at the Roman home and the people who lived in these ill-fated cities. Owing to their different locations, Pompeii and Herculaneum were buried in different ways, and this has affected the preservation of materials at each site. Herculaneum was a small seaside town whereas Pompeii was the industrial hub of the region. Work continues at both sites and recent excavations at Herculaneum have uncovered beautiful and fascinating artefacts. The exhibition will give visitors a taste of the daily life of the people of both Pompeii and Herculaneum, from the bustling street to the family home; and will include some of the iconic casts from in and around Pompeii of some of the victims of the eruption.