Projects

In 1998, UNESCO declared Pompeii and Herculaneum part of a world heritage site due to its 'impressive remains' and itsability to 'provide a complete picture of society and daily life in a specific moment in the past'. However, due to the general

degradation of Pompeii, UNESCO gave the Italian government 2 years from 2013 to improve the circumstances or else Pompeii would be listed as a ‘World Heritage in Danger site’. Thus the establishment of the Great Pompeii project began,headed by archaeologist Giovanni Nistri. Funding from both Italy and the EU, as a model of the Herculaneum Conservation Project, have led to drainage works on the Via Dell Abbondanza to avoid building collapses, the laser cleaning of Roman frescoes in the Villa of the Mysteries to avoid fading and further damage and the restoration of a number of houses and structures such as the Fullonica of Stephanus.

The Great Pompeii Project

The Great Pompeii Project applies the Inter-institutional Agreement on Legality and Security of 20th January 2012 between the Italian Ministry of Territorial Cohesion, Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Education, Universities, and Research, and the President of the Authority for the Supervision of Public Contracts, which oversees the security of contracts, with the signing of the Protocol of Legality of 5th April 2012.

The Great Pompeii Project, an important and challenging intervention with funding of 105 million euros between the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) and national funds, aims at the requalification of the archaeological site of Pompeii by December 2015. The main areas of intervention include:

• reduction of the hydro-geological risk by securing the unexcavated embankments;

• securing the insulae (apartment buildings);

• consolidation and restoration of masonry;

• consolidation and restoration of decorated surfaces;

• protecting buildings from weather exposure, with a consequent increase in the number of areas that can be visited;

• strengthening of the video-surveillance system.

The project is supported and accompanied by a suitable plan for scientific and technical study aimed at diagnosis, expansion of scientific knowledge, and providing the direction of the operational choices.

The Pompeii Forum Project

The Pompeii Forum Project is a collaborative research venture that is archaeologically based, heavily dependent upon advanced technology, and so conceived as to address broad issues in urban history and urban design. Evidence gathered to date challenges commonly held and widely published notions about the evolution of the forum, especially during the final years of the city's life. The goals are to provide the first systematic documentation of the architecture and decoration of the forum, to interpret evidence as it pertains to Pompeii's urban history, and to make wider contributions to both the history of urbanism and contemporary problems of urban design.

.

Website: http://pompeii.virginia.edu/neh/statmnt.html

The Philodemous Project.

In 1752 workers tunneling into a large, wealthy villa which would have overlooked the Bay in antiquity discovered a large number of what appeared to be sticks of charcoal, some of them bundled together. Upon closer inspection, these sticks proved to be rolls of the ancient writing material papyrus. Numerous attempts to open these rolls and read their contents failed, due to their extreme fragility and the fact that they were burnt by the ca. 300 degree Celsius volcanic flow, compressed by the weight of rubble and mud, and congealed by water. Eventually, several hundred of the rolls were partly cut apart and partly unrolled.

The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius covered the city of Herculaneum in twenty meters of lava, simultaneously destroying the Herculaneum scrolls through carbonization and preserving the scrolls by protecting them from the elements. Unwrapping the scrolls would damage them, but researchers are anxious to read the texts. Researchers from the University of Kentucky collaborated with the Institut de France and SkyScan to digitally unwrap and preserve the scrolls.

The Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP) is a public/private initiative launched in 2001 for the conservation and enhancement of the archaeological site of Herculaneum. This ancient Roman city in Italy was destroyed and buried along with Pompeii by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. It has a history of excavation dating back to the early eighteenth century. The project was set up by David W. Packard of the Packard Humanities Institute, together with Pietro Giovanni Guzzo of the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei, to take the measures necessary to provide a response to the serious condition of the site after decades of neglect. Andrew Wallace‐Hadrill, Director of the British School at Rome, was invited to direct the project, with the guidance of a Scientific Committee of international distinction, with the aim of reversing the phenomenon of spiralling decay that was afflicting the archaeological structures and find long‐term strategies that could ensure the survival of this ancient city.

Thanks to donations by the Packard Humanities Institute to reimburse the cost of conservation works carried out within the Soprintendenza’s works programme and through the creation of a small team of conservation specialists that advised the heritage authority, the tide gradually began to turn. In the summer of 2004 a third partner, the British School at Rome joined HCP and signed a sponsorship agreement with the Soprintendenza that allowed the private partners to provide operational support to the heritage authority.

Now able to commission site‐works directly and avoid the delays of the procedurally‐ heavy public‐works administrative route, the impact of the injection of external philanthropic support was optimised. A larger project team was established made up of both independent specialists and contractors appointed by the private arm of the collaboration and the public officials working for the Soprintendenza.

Neapolis Project

The Neapolis Project was an Italian driven project aimed at producing a series of interlinked databases of the whole region

of Pompeii and Herculaneum, to enable consistency and effective communication for archaeologists. Pictorial and written analysis would be uploaded to this database, allowing archaeologists to work from and continue works of past researchers. Through this project, a complete address list of the buildings in Pompeii have been derived, scientific cataloging of frescoes and mosaics have occurred and diaries and cataloging of discoveries now has a data base that is accessible to all archaeologists. Upon completion this IT system has been a convenient tool for research and analysis.

Pompeii Sustainable preservation Project

https://pompeii-sustainable-preservation-project.org/

https://www.ibp.fraunhofer.de/en/business-units-and-products/cultural-heritage-research/archaeology-preventive-conservation.html

The POMPEII SUSTAINABLE PRESERVATION PROJECT (PSPP) is an association of renowned European research institutions (including ICCROM, ISPC-CNR) from the fields of monument conservation and restoration, under the direction of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.

PSPP is based at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP outside of Munich. Its emphases are education and research related to the preservation of archaeological sites.

PSPP’s specialists preserve endangered cultural heritage while training the restorers of tomorrow.

PSPP’s annual Conservation Academy supports the training of young restorers who, while learning and practicing state-of-the-art techniques, make an important contribution to the preservation of world cultural heritage. PSPP teaches complex restoration methods and applies them directly to ancient buildings, with the work of young restorers assisted or supervised by seasoned experts

Goals

• Utilize innovative methods for sustainable conservation, implementing emergency interventions in order to conserve the iconic site of Pompeii and prevent further damage.

• Develop and adapt materials, strategies, and methods that enhance efficient and sustainable restoration at Pompeii, with this knowledge transferable to other ancient sites.

• Restore building complexes in Pompeii and preserve them for the long term.

• Train young conservators and researchers, making a substantial contribution to the future preservation of world heritage internationally.

Goals and methods in more detail.

Preservation of the cultural assets

• Sustainable and comprehensive restoration

• Preventive conservation and care

• Documentation and publication

• Concepts for developing the site for tourists in a way that is compatible with the ruins

Training programs

• Training courses for students working in the fields of restoration, archaeology and building research

• Advanced training courses for professional restorers from different cultural backgrounds

• Interdisciplinary seminars on preserving ruins

• Pompeii courses for schools from the Vesuvius region and international partner schools

• International workshops and congresses to improve existing skills

Research

• Development of new restoration methods

• Development of sustainable conservation materials

• Climate studies on preventive conservation

• Historical research on ancient building techniques

• Development of a digital image of the buildings based on the findings

• Studies on the history of the restoration of Pompeii