SALT LAKE CITY — An exhibition featuring more than 150 artifacts from Pompeii will arrive at Salt Lake City’s Leonardo Museum for several months beginning November 23.
Pompeii: The Exhibition features more than 150 authentic artifacts from Pompeii, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption that also preserved artifacts for hundreds of years.
“We wanted to bring this historical event back to life and allow visitors to relive it vividly,” said John Norman, Managing Director of Exhibition at IMG, producer of Pompeii: The Exhibition. “The Leonardo’s stellar reputation in the worldwide exhibition community makes Salt Lake City an easy choice when it comes to an international tour of this importance.”
Norman said the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. created a unique historical opportunity.
“The exhibition allows visitors to explore the treasures and experience life in the bustling city of Pompeii before time essentially stopped,” he said.
The artifacts are on loan from the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Italy. The exhibit runs November 23 to May 3rd.
Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash and debris for more than 1,700 years. That same ash and debris also preserved artifacts and even bodies, granting a unique look into everyday life during the height of the Roman empire.
The exhibit will be $9.99 for museum members, while general admission tickets are $24.99 for adults, $19.99 for children ages 3 to 15, and $21.99 for seniors or those with a valid Military ID. Advance ticket reservations and more details about group/school pricing are available online.
“Having Pompeii’s archaeological treasures visit Salt Lake City is truly an honor, as these pieces rarely leave Italy,” said Alex Hesse, Executive Director at the museum. “Combining the exhibition with a robust calendar of programming with local experts will give our community a unique cross-disciplinary look at one of the most fascinating ancient civilizations. We expect Pompeii: The Exhibition to be one of the highest attended cultural events ever hosted in the state of Utah.”
The exhibit will feature the following, according to the press release:
• Introductory theatre where the scene is set in a video with dramatic reconstructions that describes Pompeii and the nearby volcano.
• Visitors are then transported back in time to 79 A.D. and find themselves in a reproduced atrium from a Roman villa, where they will embark on a journey through the ancient city.
• Through the use of projections, audio, video, photographic murals, and graphic reproductions of frescoes and mosaics, visitors will experience different locations that existed in the city, including a market, a temple, theater, and baths.
• Over 150 authentic artifacts will help bring the story of Pompeii to life. These remarkable objects include: Mosaics and frescoes, gladiator helmets, armor, and weapons, a ship’s anchor, lamps, jugs, cups, plates, pots and pans and other household objects and furniture, jewelry, medical instruments, and tools.
• A simulated 4D eruption theater will allow visitors to experience the deathly impact Mount Vesuvius had on this ancient city, culminating in the reveal of full body casts of twisted human forms, asphyxiated by extreme heat and noxious gases and forever frozen in time.
