When Mount Vesuvius erupted it embedded desperate figures into the hills and history of Pompeii. Hidden under mounds of volcanic ash, the city’s inhabitants were remarkably preserved in their helpless states.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston now holds skeletons and casts of citizens who were unable to evacuate, more than a thousand miles and years away from their original location.
Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption combines sculptures, personal belongings, the bodies of victims and large-scale photographs to offer Houstonians a chance to revisit the city and surrounding suburbs that were destroyed by the volcano in 79 A.D.
The story is one of extreme wealth, which saw its end under an enormous cloud of black ash and poisonous gases. Buried along with the residents were their most valuable possessions: gold bracelets, rings and necklaces, important tools and coins. The exhibition displays these valuables alongside the victims they were found on, crouched in their cowering positions along the floor.
Lining the walls of the museum are large photographs of the city that show where the victims were found. The villages were often close to the sea and the victims were those waiting to evacuate on boats.
However, it is not merely the positions and expressions of the bodies that make the exhibition interesting. What is most jarring is the realization that these people were living, that they walked down the streets of the city, ate from the utensils now behind glass and wore the extravagant jewelry locked in cases. It’s the small details of everyday life (they didn’t use forks) that bring the event into the present – something that can be difficult when looking so far into the past.
The exhibition does more than provide a look at the Pompeii residents’ final moments. It offers a look at their daily lives with examples of impressive Roman artwork, such as a marble statue of the goddess Hera, frescoes that adorned walls and mosaics that ornamented floors.
One display case holds a number of gold rings encasing small stones carved with faces of gods and a single gold band resting on the bone of the finger that wore it.
Without these details, the exhibition comes off as just another collection of bones and artifacts. Though it mainly consists of display cases and pedestals, Pompeii requires more interaction than just strolling through the rooms. The plaster casts of the Romans will certainly leave an impression on viewers, but reading the accompanying notes and taking a close look at the dents and marks left on the jewelry is vital to taking away all that can be found at Pompeii.
Along with the exhibition, MFAH will show In the Shadow of Vesuvius, a documentary about the volcano. Admission to the film is free with a ticket stub from the exhibition.
Admission to Pompeii is $10. For more information, visit www.mfah.org.
