Two of Herculaneum's most famous and
beautiful domus reopened Wednesday after a 25-year restoration.
The domus in the Roman town buried by Vesuvius along with
Pompeii in 79 AD are the House of the Tuscan Colonnade and the
House of the Wooden Sacellum.
And the room of the custodian of the Augustales' sacellum is
also on display in its new guise, a real cold case on which
researchers are trying to shed light with new analyses on the
skeleton of a young man believed to be the custodian of the
college, an effort which should be completed in the coming days,
said Culture Minister Alessandri Giuli.
New work is also underway on the suburban baths, one of the most
fascinating and important public buildings in Herculaneum, as
well as, with its precious coverings and precious marbles, the
best preserved thermal building in the ancient world.
The reopening of the House of the Tuscan Colonnade and the
Wooden Sacellum, restored, said Giuli, with "wise mastery",
marks the completion of the first phase of the Domus project
which involves the conservative restoration of six domus
resulting from the joint work of the Herculaneum Archaeological
Park and the Packard Humanities Institute.
A partnership, the Minister of Culture announced, that will
continue with an investment of approximately 45 million euros,
allowing the resumption of archaeological excavations on the
site and the application of new technologies to research and the
enjoyment of the heritage as well as the construction of
warehouses and laboratories.
A "fruitful and far-sighted" alliance, said Giuli of the
collaboration that also includes interventions on an urban scale
such as the redevelopment of a neighborhood bordering the
excavations and the construction of a new complex of buildings
set back to the south of the archaeological site that will allow
the elimination of existing modern infrastructures on the edge
of the excavation and the retreat of the current excavation
limits to the east and south.
"New prospects", underlined the director of the Park, Francesco
Sirano, "are opening up thanks to the signing last July of the
memorandum of understanding with the Packard Humanities
Institute which provides for the construction of new warehouses,
laboratories, offices and above all the historic resumption,
almost a hundred years after the beginning of Maiuri's
excavations, of large-scale archaeological research in the
eastern area of ;;the ancient city".
With the reopenings, the launch of an App was also announced, a
guide and more, which allows access to the enormous wealth of
digital knowledge of the Park.
Herculaneum, where organic material like wood and leather has
been preserved unlike at Pompeii, is a wonder of humanity,
Giuli went on.
"Despite all the bad things that have been said and written
about Campania, Herculaneum is proof that this land is truly a
marvel of humanity" and a testimony of what was once the
"Campania felix".
Giuli said.
"You come to Herculaneum because you are aware that you cannot
exercise the role of Minister of Culture without knowing that
there are unique places where the presence of institutions must
serve to give strong signals of presence not only from an
economic point of view: you have to show yourself on the
territory to reflect the beauty of the territory, the value of
the work that is done here and act as a channel for what you,
working here every day, represent".
With the reopening of the two Domus, he underlined, "the first
phase of the Domus project concludes, the result of over twenty
years of collaboration with the Packard Humanities Institute,
which I still thank, which has found fertile ground here and a
world reference model for an activity of enhancement and
protection that has put down fruitful roots in the conservation
works of the site, in the planning and creation of the IT offer
that is materialized with the new Ercolano Digitale app".
Here, he continued, "the foundations have been laid for a
profitable continuation of the relationship that will lead, with
approximately 45 million euros, to the construction of new
warehouses, laboratories, offices, as well as to the resumption
on a large scale of excavations in the eastern part of the site,
so far explored for only a fifth of its extension.
Imagine what
a wonder still lies beneath our souls.
"From this afternoon the public will be able to admire again two
of the most beautiful residences present in this place,
eternalized by the fire of Vesuvius, which here acted, as we
know, differently than in Pompeii, allowing the conservation of
testimonies that are truly unique in the whole Mediterranean".
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