Alberto Angela, in the magnificent special broadcast a week ago, showed a preview of some priceless treasures. Even the blue room. A new environment excavated in the central area of the ancient city, which has been interpreted as a sacrarium, that is, a space dedicated to ritual activities and the conservation of sacred objects.
There is an in-depth analysis of the discovery in the Pompeii excavations e-Journal. On a blue background, the walls show female figures flanking the niches in the centre, and depicting the four seasons in the lateral onesthe Horaewhile in those on the central wall allegories of agriculture and pastoralism, as indicated by the attributes of the plow and the pedum, a short stick used by shepherds and hunters. The blue color found here was rarely witnessed in Pompeian frescoes and was generally present in environments of great decorative importance.
«Pompeii never ceases to amaze, it is a treasure chest that is still partly unexplored. It is for this reason that we have financed the new excavations and are working to maintain the high quality of the archaeological park”, said the Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, visiting today the new excavation sites at the Archaeological Park of Pompeii. Accompanied by the director Gabriel Zuchtriegel and by the Park officials, the minister visited the insula of the Chaste Lovers, recently opened to the public, and the Regio IX from which comes the excavated environment in the central area of the ancient city, painted in blue and interpretable as a Sacrarium .
Already partially explored in the Bourbon era, the excavation revealed objects belonging to the furnishings of the house, temporarily deposited during the construction works extended to the entire complex. They have been found in the environment fifteen transport amphorae and a bronze kit consisting of two jugs and two lamps. There are also accumulations of building materials, ready to be used in renovations. On the entrance threshold a pile of already consumed oyster shells was found which, once chopped, were probably added to the mixtures for the plasters and mortars.
The room, which measures approximately 8 square meters, it emerged among the structures located in the southern portion of the block, belonging to a secondary neighborhood of a large one domuswhich has so far revealed a spa district still under excavation and a large black frescoed hall overlooking a courtyard, with a staircase leading to the first floor of the complex.
The excavation activity which is affecting insula 10 of Regio IX is part of a broader project to secure the perimeter front between the excavated and non-excavated area, and to improve the hydrogeological structure, aimed at making the protection of the vast Pompeian heritage (more than 13 thousand rooms in 1070 residential units, in addition to public and sacred spaces) more effective and sustainable.
