Herculaneum reopens the House of the Tuscan Colonnade and the House of the Wooden Sacellum

Two of the most beautiful residences ofancient Herculaneum reopen after more than twenty-five years: the House of the Tuscan Colonnade and the House of the Wooden Sacellum. They are both symbolically representative of the origin of ancient Herculaneum: the former for a painting depicting the founding sacrifice of the city by Hercules, the latter for the discovery of a statuette of the same hero in the lararium from which the residence takes its name.

The reopening, in the presence of Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Edmondo Cirielli, marks the conclusion of the first phase of the Domus Project.

The restored Domus

The House of the Tuscan Colonnade is located in the center of the ancient city with the main entrance from the Decumanus Maximus. The name comes from the type of columns used in the peristyle that enclosed the domestic garden. The house was excavated in the last years of Maiuri’s directorship between 1959 and 1960, and the restorations completed in the early 1970s. Archaeological excavations conducted during this restoration confirmed that the present floor plan, in the shape of an inverted L, derives from the fusion of two dwelling units from the 2nd century B.C. that were unified only in the early imperial age following an overall reorganization of the entire northwestern sector of the Insula in which the Collegio degli Augustali was also built. The fauces (entrance) are flanked by two workshops open on the Decumanus Maximus but communicating with the dwelling, thus run by the person who lived in the house. The workshop, with entrance at no. 16, was originally a cubicle open on the atrium, painted in III Style with a scene of sacrifice in the presence of Hercules. Over the atrium, with original marble-covered tufa impluvium in imperial times and transformed into a fountain, opens another corridor from which one enters the columned peristyle that gives the house its name. To the right in the peristyle opens the triclinium, the large convivial room with a pair of half-columns over the deliberately wider entrance to have a better view of the garden whose walls are decorated with images of Bacchus and Apollo. On the west side of the peristyle are the service rooms: the kitchen, with a counter and painting of lararium with agatodemonic serpents, and storerooms. In a room on the second floor were found 14 gold coins and a seal of M(arco) Co(minio) Fru(gi) probable name of the last inhabitant or owner of the house.

The House of the Wooden Sacellum owes its name to a beautiful cabinet with a wooden lararium in the shape of a small temple with Corinthian capitals, found charred in a cubicle on the ground floor to the right of the entrance. The domus, albeit with minor transformations that occurred over time, retained until its last phase of life the typical appearance of Herculaneum dwellings of the 2nd century BCE. Proof of this is the plan layout of the rooms with the canonical succession of entrance, fauces, atrium, tablinum. In the atrium, traces of an ancient loggia (cenaculum) are even visible, which must have developed over the tablinum and the rooms facing the V Cardo, according to a model that in Herculaneum is well represented by the Casa Sannitica. Inside the lararium were found, among other things, a statuette of Hercules and a seal of Lucius Autronius Euthimion, the last owner of the domus. Today the house appears bare with few remnants of decorations referable to its last phase of life, but in ancient times it must have had some dignity despite its modest plan development. This is confirmed by the beautiful floor of the tablinum, which shows a cocciopesto decorated with geometric motifs obtained through the insertion of white tesserae, datable between the second and first centuries BC. Just at the entrance to this room, an archaeological essay was carried out that allowed the levels below the cocciopesto floor of the atrium to be investigated, leading to the discovery of a brick and masonry channel, oriented East-West, that was used to convey roof waters into the impluvium basin and from there into the cistern below. It was thus part of the rainwater storage system that served the needs of the inhabitants, who could retrieve it by drawing it through the circular inlet on the south side of the basin: an element that would remain active until the last moment of the building’s life and that bears direct witness to the fact that in this domus, unlike many others in Herculaneum, there was no running water when the eruption of 79 AD arrived.

Digital App

In addition to the restored Domus, the new layout of the Custodian’s Room in the Sacellum of the Augustals, ongoing work at the Suburban Baths, and extraordinary maintenance on an urban scale were presented.

In addition, visitors can take advantage of a new mobile App for Android and iOS devices, an integral part of the Herculaneum Digital project, available in nine languages and free to download from major stores; the app takes advantage of the Park’s WiFi and LiFi technology to automatically transmit contextual information to visitors’ devices; thanks to a widespread network of Bluetooth beacons, content updates in real time based on the user’s location. Five thematic routes allow visitors to customize their visit according to their interests, age and time available, making the experience accessible to all.

II Director of the Archaeological Park of Herculaneum, Francesco Sirano, together with representatives of the Packard Humanities Institute (Richard Hodges, Jaime Garcia and Jane Thompson), the philanthropic organization that supports the archaeological site in a public-private partnership that has been active for 24 years, highlighted the exceptional complexity of the restoration work on the newly reopened domus and the innovative approach taken to heritage protection and enhancement.

Thanks to the agreement signed with the Packard Humanities Institute in July 2024, new initiatives are on the horizon: the construction of storage rooms, laboratories and offices, as well as the resumption, after nearly a century since the excavations led by Amedeo Maiuri, of large-scale archaeological surveys in the eastern area of the city.

Statements

“A quarter of a century after their closure, the mansions of the House of the Tuscan Colonnade and the House of the Wooden Sacellum reopen their doors, expertly restored, marking the completion of the first phase of the Domus Project,” said Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli. “The more than 20-year alliance with the Packard Humanities Institute is confirmed as fruitful and forward-looking. It is a partnership that will continue with an investment of some 45 million euros, enabling the resumption of archaeological excavations at the site, the study and application of new technologies to heritage research and enjoyment, and the construction of storage facilities and laboratories.”

“The reopening of two domus and the realization of the Herculaneum App, the result of more than 20 years of collaboration with the Packard Foundation,” commented Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Edmondo Cirielli, “testifies to how much Campania’s extraordinary cultural heritage can activate important channels of cultural diplomacy, capable of triggering the harmonious development of the territory by bringing growth, knowledge and quality employment. The enhancement of Herculaneum thus continues to open to important prospects in the transatlantic dialogue between Italy and the US, while contributing to the protection of an archaeological site of great importance.”

“Our goal is to make the Herculaneum Archaeological Park a place where history, culture, technology, as well as familiarity with our origins that I would describe as almost sentimental, are intertwined to offer visitors an unprecedented experience,” said Herculaneum Archaeological Park Director Francesco Sirano. “The main challenge that characterized the entire intervention on the domus concerned the need to balance technical and conservation requirements (such as restoring structural stability) with a presentation to the public that would enhance the characteristics that made them spaces of good living, of refined and industrious life to which they bear witness of great historical and monumental value. The expansion of the area of enjoyment through the opening of the domus in which action was taken is an integral part of a forward-looking vision of the site that communicates universal values. To do so, new technologies have been used to help introduce the world to the historical richness of this World Heritage Site in an innovative and accessible way for all. With the new App, every visitor will be able not only to explore our sites, but also to get in touch with our digital archive, a heritage that grows every day thanks to the conservation and research work we carry out with passion. We are ready to project our extraordinary past into the future, and we are also ready for the start of new excavations in the eastern area of the ancient city: a historic resumption of research made possible, like so many other important projects, by the excellent public-private partnership with the American philanthropic organization Packard Humanities Institute. The multidisciplinary approach and the adoption of a site management plan, starting in 2017, has led to the establishment of urban-scale maintenance programs that have defused emergencies, enabled the reduction of areas of degradation, and ensured the protection of the UNESCO heritage site.”

“Today we celebrate the latest outcomes of a long journey in Herculaneum in the perspective and co-responsibility of the road ahead in the near, immediate future,” concluded Jane Thompson, manager in charge of partnership-public management on behalf of the Packard Foundations. “On the strength of 24 years, beginning in 2001, the joint actions for the preservation and enhancement of the ancient city along with projects aimed at rethinking its relationship with the modern city through the redevelopment of the neighboring neighborhood of Via Mare, today the public-private partnership is entering a new, even more important phase. The construction of a new complex of buildings, set back southward from the archaeological site, will allow the elimination of the existing modern infrastructure at the edge of the excavation and the retreat of the current excavation limits to the east and south. This ”revolution“ creates the conditions for two momentous turning points: the resumption of archaeological excavations eastward at a scale comparable only to that of Amedeo Maiuri’s time; and the creation of a green landscape for those exploring the ancient city, a welcoming place for both the local community and visitors to the archaeological site. The combined action of these projects will make the Herculaneum Archaeological Park and its territory, in the medium and long term, a very important international reference point for humanistic studies.”

Photo Emanuele Antonio Minerva © Ministry of Culture

Herculaneum reopens the House of the Tuscan Colonnade and the House of the Wooden Sacellum

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