The Cabinet of Herculaneum restored for exhibition – History

After a complex stabilization and restoration program, the wooden cabinet and all its contents that survived the destruction of Herculaneum by Mount Vesuvius have been put in place and are now on display in the Antiquities Hall of the Archaeological Park of Herculaneum.

The eruption of Vesuvius hit Herculaneum in a different way than what happened in Pompeii. While Pompeii was covered in pumice, trapping people seeking shelter and causing roofs to collapse on them, Herculaneum was unaffected on the first day of the eruption. Then the winds changed direction and the massive column of ash and smoke collapsed, releasing boiling gases and pyroclastic debris with temperatures exceeding 800 degrees Fahrenheit, engulfing the entire town. Everyone was killed on the spot and the wood was carbonized on the spot. Herculaneum was subsequently hit by six lahar floods, which covered up to 70 feet of silt in wave after wave. The soil quickly cooled and hardened into solid rock, leaving the entire city covered in a giant layer of air-tight volcanic tuff. Oxygen cannot penetrate it, and all carbonized organic matter, from small bits of food to the entire villa roof, has been preserved for 2,000 years.

The carbonized cabinet was discovered in 1937 in a second-floor apartment next to the luxurious Bicentennial House on Herculaneum’s main street, Decumanus Maximus. Detailed documentation in the excavation diary shows that an assortment of tableware – cups, glasses, jugs, jars – were found in the cabinets in their original arrangement on the shelves. It was considered at the time to be an extraordinary portrait of daily life in a 1st century Roman family.

Amedeo Maiuri, the head of excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum, displays it in a first-floor storefront below the apartment where it was found. This was part of his idea to make Herculaneum a “museum city”, a Roman town resurrected where visitors could step back in time and experience the living remains of Roman antiquity from 2,000 years ago. Maiuri, a supporter of Mussolini, pushed for the definition of fascist Italy as a direct descendant of the Roman Empire, which he saw as a means of connecting modern Italians to their “Romanita,” the Fascist doctrine that equated its nationalism and imperialism with classical Roman culture. Recreating daily life scenes such as homes, streets, and shops conveys the relevant humanity of the ancient world in a way that history books cannot. Carbonized wood furniture plays an important role in these scenarios.

In 1938, archaeologists, historians and Fascist officials visited Herculaneum, which was the culmination of the Convegno Augusteo, a conference of archaeologists convened by the Fascist government on the occasion of the celebration of the two thousandth anniversary of Augustus’s birth. Herculaneum also celebrates the 200th anniversary of its first excavations, and the reconstructed Bicentennial House, apparently named to commemorate the date, is the centerpiece of the celebrations. The cupboards and all their crockery were installed in a first-floor shop below the apartment where they were found. Here’s a newsreel from the event, showing Maiuri, wearing a black shirt, showing off his “City of Museums” to dignitaries.

The advent of war halted excavation work and the cabinets were dismantled and stored in wooden boxes for decades. Conservators launched a new research and restoration program in 2022 with the goal of stabilizing it for transport and long-term display.

The relocation was particularly tricky due to the fragile nature of the artifacts, requiring the coordination of complex operations by conservators, archaeologists and specialist technicians, who worked throughout the day to ensure maximum safety. Today, the sideboard is located on the mezzanine floor of the Antiquities Museum, and its display cases faithfully reproduce Maiuri’s original layout. Digging into the documents allowed us to reconstruct and replace the cutlery found on the sideboard in 1937, providing a vivid and authentic image of family life 2,000 years ago.

The find is displayed next to a cradle, a collection that tells the story of intimacy and everyday life, and the lala bathroom found in the same room in apartment V,18, which was restored in 2021 as part of the 19th Intesa Sanpaolo restoration. […]

The re-display of the sideboard represents a key step in the heritage value of Herculaneum, providing a unique opportunity to experience with emotion and wonder the daily life of the inhabitants of ancient Herculaneum.