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One of the sights for which Pompeii is most famous is this – the bodies of its inhabitants frozen forever in time as they were when caught and killed by the enormous power of the eruption. But not everyone realises that what they are seeing are not some sort of fossil remains, but plaster casts created by archaeologists. This plaster cast method of “preserving” the bodies was invented by Fiorelli, the director of the excavations, back in 1863. It is applied to bodies buried in the last phase of the eruption by the shower of ash. This eventually hardened around their shape and after the natural decomposition of their bodies an empty space was left, like a mould of what had been there.
To create the casts, Plaster of Paris is mixed with water and poured into the cavity. When it is dry, the crust of pumice and hardened ash is chipped carefully away to reveal the shape of the body that once lay there. They are preserved in amazing detail – the expressions on the victims’ faces, the folds of their clothes, their shoes and the contorted positions in which they fell or tried to protect themselves from the onslaught.
You can see these casts in various places, although not, as I had imagined, in the spots where they were discovered. These include the Forum Granary (the site closest to the entrance, although not the best viewing point), the Stabian Baths (when we had our closest view, of a cast displayed in a glass case) and the Garden of the Fugitives (a longer walk from the entrance but worth it as this is a lovely spot and seemed to me to be a more respectful environment in which to display the casts). I’ve covered all of these places in more detail in my Things to Do tips.
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This picture is maybe the most shocked of these that I took, especially if you look at the arms of this man. It seems he was trying to fight versus an invisible enemy; the dust of pumice-stone and the poison gas of the eruption. The 38% of the victims died because of this dust. It burned their lungs and became a sort of cement that obstruct them. Many people died after breathing the gas. Leave a Comment
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Basically your visit to Pompei will follow a rectangular route. After entering you will notice three corps on your right. Continuing your visit you will see more corps of the victims of the eruption, but I thing the trio at the entrance is the most expressives. Their features are so spontaneous that you can imagine the panic they felt. To tell you the truth after seeing them I felt a bit shocked, becuase you immediately think about the eruption and you can imagine the confusion of those moments. Leave a Comment
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The body of the victim you can see in this picture are not mummified. They are just an envelope due to the pumice-stone piled up and cementified. After the corruption of the body, the space that it occupied was empty so the archaeologists colarono some cement inside the "hole",and the cement takes the shape of the body that was there before the corruption. I apologize to you all for my explication but is not easy to describe this process in a foreigner language. Leave a Comment
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Although its fascinating to see these plaster cast models of the victims and to learn of the technique its also very poignant and sad to see. This victim was sitting, covering their eyes with their hands- maybe blinded by the smoke and noxious gasses that issued from the erruption.
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The petrified bodies of the inhabitants of ancient Pompeii, frozen in time by the lava, attract many visitors. It did feel eerie looking at these people (especially the person in the picture) whose features are very clear. These examples were in the Macalleum, but there may have been others in parts of the ruins which we didn't explore. Leave a Comment
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The wet ashes and cinders accompanying the eruption hermetically sealed the town preserving many public buildings, temples, theaters, baths, shops and private homes. Many art objects were preserved also. Remnants of some 2,000 victims of the disaster were found in the ruins of Pompeii, including several gladiators who had been placed in chains to prevent them from escaping or committing suicide. Ashes, mixed with rain settled around the bodies in molds that remained after the bodies turned to dust. Liquid plaster was poured into some of these molds by the excavators, which preserved the bodies. The museum erected at Porta Marina gate exhibits some of these figures. Leave a Comment
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At the side of the forum there was a long store room of the artifacts that have been uncovered from the rubble of Pompei. Also to be seen are plaster casts of victims so you can see their expressions during their attempted futile flight from the tragic disaster befalling them.
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And as all goods of everyday life and all
buildings were buried under a thick layer of lava and
ashes everything was perfectly CONSERVATED
Dead bodies of men and animals were covered by the ashes.
Lateron the body fell apart within the centuries going on,
and that way a VAKKUM with the exact contour of the body
remained and was finally filled with plaster by the
archeologists, who finally got a perfect model of the
buried person that way.
Many of these plaster-models are displayed and you may
see a dog, who tried to escape, but could not get off the
chain...
a mother running with her children but got caught by the
ashes and a young girl with precious jewelery and a
bronze-statue in her hands... Leave a Comment
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When they excavated the area in and around the city they had found the remains of many people in the last position they were in, choking from the ash. When the bodies were first discovered they poured plaster in the place the body was, which was just an empty cavity now, and they were able to get a perfect cast of the person’s image as well as the expression on their face.
There are a few casts on display around the site and there are some in the museum in Naples. Leave a Comment
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