3. Investigating, reconstructing and preserving the past
examinable content
• issues of conservation and reconstruction: Italian and international contributions and responsibilities; impact
of tourism
A summary
Issues of Conservation and reconstruction
 The sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum have been damaged by 200 years of excavation, exposure, neglect,
poor restoration work and poor site management.
 The pressures of tourism have caused ongoing site damage, intentional and non – intentional. Over two
million tourists come to Pompeii and half that at Herculaneum every year and numbers are rising.
 Current conservation programs are in place at both sites, management plans counter the effects of tourism
by restricting access to areas, rotating the availability of viewable buildings and controlling group
movement with strict itineraries supervised by State appointed tour guides.
1: Poor Restoration Work and preservation work.
 The quality of workmanship has been a problem. As local firms do not have the specialised knowledge
needed, errors have been made such as wrong materials and incorrect construction methods
 reactions between ancient plasters and modern mortar causing cracks to form
 Exposure has also brought vegetation problems
 Exposed frescoes have deteriorated and protective roofs erected in the mid twentieth century are proving
inadequate and are deteriorating themselves
 The involvement of the Neapolitan Mafia in local construction firms and looting of sites for the lucrative
black-market in antiquities has been an on going problem
2. Poor site management
 no comprehensive management plan for the sites in the past
 excavations have frequently aimed at speed rather than preservation, the result has been considerable
deterioration of buildings and especially paintings
 In 1980, an earthquake caused further damage including cracked and collapsed walls
 the excavated areas have been exposed to the weather.
 looting and touching painted plaster walls and statuary has occurred because whole areas of the sites were
unsupervised, an on going problem even today.
 Sunlight, acid rain, carbon particles, rain penetration, rising damp, algae, vegetation and weeds are ruining
plaster frescoes and walls without adequate protection.
3. Pressure from tourism
 The site's erosion is particularly exacerbated by the thousands of tourists who visit it each day
 tourists walk along ancient roads and footpaths causing unintentional wear to surfaces or brush against or
rub wall paintings and frescos.
 Some tourists have deliberately vandalised the site by souveniring items or ‘making their mark’.
 ‘Today the biggest danger for the old town is the increasing number of visitors ...' Dr Salvatore Nappo
Solutions:
1. A halt on major excavations by the previous Superintendent of Pompeii, Pier Giovanni Guzzo.
(many small scale excavations and field schools, most sponsored by foreign universities, can be observed
working in Pompeii eg The Anglo-American Project at Pompeii.)
2. Using water permeable fixatives, plastic polycarbonate sheeting for roofs, walls and murals
(The Herculaneum Project team has developed more effective preservation mortars and follows the principal
of unobtrusive stabilisation)
3. UNESCO declared Pompeii and Herculaneum to be a World Heritage Site in 1998
4. International cooperation: the Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP) between the Packard Institute and
the British School at Rome, the Pompeii Trust, registered as a UK charity in 2002. This is possible due to an
application of an Italian law that allows private organizations to work at sites controlled by the state.
5. A ‘special law’ 1997, was passed in Italy, giving the Soprintendenza Archaeologica di Pompeii an
unprecedented financial autonomy. This meant that all the gate receipts are now kept and spent in Pompeii.
6. Programmes of conservation under way - such as in famous houses like the House of Menander and the
House of the Vettii at Pompeii which is currently closed to the public. (January 2008)
7. In the case of recently-restored monuments such as the Suburban Thermal Baths and the Houses of Polybius
and Menander, visits are by reservation only and in small groups, which limits wear.
8. Sections of insulae, roads and buildings in Pompeii and Herculaneum are sectioned off and rotated to
minimise tourist foot traffic and wear. Increased supervision and restrictions on entry to project buildings for
tour groups.
9. The archaeological treasures (paintings and mosaics) were catalogued and a census was made of the artistic,
environmental and territorial assets of the Vesuvian area and of the corresponding archives. Moreover, a set of
computerized technical and thematic maps was made of Pompeii and of the whole Vesuvian area.
10. As a result of the danger of theft, in 2003 a plan to move all pottery, capitals, columns and decorations to
museums began e.g. the National Museum in Naples. A new museum on the Herculaneum site is opening soon
(2008?).
# Case study – Current conservation work at Herculaneum (2008)
(an abridged version of an email from Sarah Court, Scientific Coordinator, Herculaneum Conservation
Project 18.6.08)
A very recent modern building collapse at the north eastern corner of the Herculaneum site has opened
up opportunities for the excavation and exposure of the currently partially exposed basilica. Walls and
back filled Bourbon era tunnels can now be seen in this section as the escarpment is stabilised.
The area has been slowly stabilised in the last few years and modern housing ‘ruins’ created in the
period of Maiuri were gradually demolished for safety reasons with the financial assistance of the
Packard Institute and cooperation with the city council of Erculano. A recent find of a statue head of an
Amazon with paint has been a bonus for the excavators of the Project.
The unexpected collapse of a DIFFERENT building caused the reassessment of that area.
A Memorandum of Understanding signed by four public institutions in Italy (unheard of, is the ironic
comment) has approved clearance of the area.
The priority is to stabilise the escarpment, which will in all likelihood require the proper protection and
long term conservation of the basilica in that corner of Herculaneum. ‘Maybe exposing it entirely is the
best solution’.