Herculaneum

[Denis]

At the same time as Pompei was getting covered in ash, a little further around the Bay towards Napeopolis stood the posh Roman sea resort city of Herculaneum. A 60 foot tall sea of boiling volcanic mud swept through and filled the whole town and carried on out to sea by at least 500 metres destroying all in its path...which was the whole town. This mud set as Tufu, the easy to cut stone that modern buildings were built from.

In the 16th century while digging a well, workers found beautiful statues and artwork 45 foot below the current land level while cutting out the Tufu stone by hand. It was this well that led to the rediscovery of the long lost town of Herculaneum.

It is a fascinating place to visit, the newer (but still old) town of Erculano now stands 60 foot above the old city, only a third of the ruined city has been excavated but what a place it is!

The buildings show beautiful mosaics, sculptures wall art and well preserved architecture including carbonised remains of wooden doors, frames, lintels, staircases and huge load bearing beams. The excavations reach down to the original sea level where skeletons of the people who tried to flee the boiling wave were incarcerated forever in the Roman boathouses that were built into seafront buildings, a desperate attempt to escape by sea failed them completely.

Some of the residents of Herculaneum....

A peek at the crater rim of the 4203 foot Mount Vesuvious that dominates the area....

and reeks of sulphur !

Edited May 10, 2017 by Denis
Additional photo

[kev7d]

This place looks quite remarkable.  

[Clicker]

Some fascinating facts and images you have presented there Denis .... and a history lesson to boot... Super set . The Mosaic on #5  is just glorious ..preserved in fabulous colours.

[FUJI]

Both places have fascinated me since I was a child, I have at least four detailed books on that double tragedy, apparently there is still lots of Herculaneum to discover.

A fantastic set of photographs Denis......the only ones I have seen taken by a visitor, but equally as good as many of those published,

FUJI

[David995031]

I actually preferred Herculaneum to Pompeii. It's a lot smaller but much better preserved. Great shots, brought back some good memories.

[CanonChrissy]

Makes me feel so sad thinking of those poor people