Pompeii Exhibition Part 1

Yesterday we went to the national museum. They have special exhibition about Pompeii. Maybe out of the Merapi euphoria we became more interested to come.

Vesuvius is a strato volcano which you can see from its cone shape like krakatoa and yes, merapi. It usually emits pyroclastic material which can be rocks, ash, lapili (smaller stones). On its biggest eruption on 79AD it destroyed 3 cities nearby which are pompeii and herculaneum. History notes that the eruption takes 2 days until it finally destroys everything.

The first day was the plinian eruption where gases and volcanic ash burst up to 35km through the atmosphere. Most of the people died on the second day where the pyroclastic surge travels up to hundreds of km/hr which can reach up to 500degC. In the end the city was covered by pyroclastic material 4m deep and for a while the world even forget this town existed.

Most people who died are those who did not flee because they don't want to leave their belongings.

I managed some time to sit down and read a book about daily life in pompeii briefly.

Pompeii was like any other city located on the foot of mountain, has very nice weather. This is where the romans build villas and resorts to rest. This city is bursting with trade activities.







Like any other Roman cities, it worships Gods and Goddesses, mainly the God of wine and fertility.

This town's households are almost the same as modern days. It says the middle class barely cook, they usually dabao from a fast food counter. Because only the rich have slaves. These are some of their so called portable stoves and ovens XD






On yesterday's exhibition i did not see so many statues. Maybe little was saved. These statues represent the hairdo fashion at that time. Well, they did perm their hair on those days..


Most statues I saw was the Gods and Goddesses.
More were shown on frescoes (wall paintings) and mosaics. I bet they spent some time putting these up. It consisted of very tiny fragments.

Location:National Museum Singapore