Discover the artifacts from Pompeii & Herculaneum at the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Pompeii Artifacts

If you’re visiting the Naples National Archaeological Museum to see artifacts saved from Pompeii and Herculaneum, you’re not alone. When it became evident that these items, if left in situ (on site), would fall into dilapidation due to the vagaries of time and the weather, shifting them to a more protected space became necessary. These objects found a fitting home within the Naples National Archaeological Museum.

From frescoes, mosaics, sculptures and even erotic paraphernalia housed in the Gabinetto Segreto or Secret Room, the Naples Museum has an impressive repository of items salvaged from Mount Vesuvius’ wrath.

Spanning five rooms (excluding the Secret Room, the Scale Model of Pompeii, and the Frescoes and Mosaics collection rooms), this collection contains everything from objects used for religious purposes to decoration, illumination and dining. Be sure to make a note of these articles and spot them on your visit!

Afrtifacts from Pompeii at the Naples Museum

Sculptures

Ranging from bronze to marble and even glazed pottery, sculptures were frequently used for decoration and ornamental purposes. Some highlights include:

Blue vase
Bronze piglet-shaped pie mold
Silver hand mirror with relief
Dental pincers
Ivory plaques

Where to see: Daily life objects from the Vesuvian era

Frescoes

These wall paintings were literally broken from the walls of their original houses and brought to the museum. Some of these frescoes have been carefully restored under expert guidance to ensure that original tones and pigments are preserved and enhanced. Highlights include:

Terentius Neo and his wife
Europa on the Bull
Flying couple
Dancers
Sacrifice of Iphigenia

Where to see: Frescoes

Mosaics

Made from tiny pieces of glass symmetrically arranged (called tesserae), mosaics were a common floor decoration in the lavish houses of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Themes of conquest, mythology and animal figures were commonly found during this period. Many mosaics at the Naples Museum are from Pompeii’s House of the Faun, one of the most opulent residences on the site. Look out for:

Mosaic of Alexander
Nilotic scene
Festoon with theater masks, vegetables and fruits
Young Dionysos on a tiger
Street musicians

Where to see: Mosaics

Gabinetto Segreto (Secret Room)

An entire collection is devoted to the display of 250-odd erotic artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum at the Naples National Archaeological Museum. Frescoes brought in from individual houses and brothels populate this collection, although it also contains some installations from the pre-Roman era. Due to its titillating content, this particular room was frequently inaccessible to the public to avoid exciting public fervor/censure. Since 2000, the collection has been reopened to the masses. Here’s what you can see of this collection:

Sculpture of Pan copulating with a goat
Embrace between a Maenad and Satyr
Leda and the Swan
Phallic symbol in a tablet
Statuette of Venus in a bikini

Scale model of Pompeii

An entire room on the second floor displays a scale model of Pompeii, down to millimetric precision based on available data from excavations. The project was undertaken in the 19th century by Felice Padiglione, a master crafter of cork models of Paestum temples, the theater of Herculaneum, and more.

The walls are cork, and the base is made out of wood. Mosaics were recreated using paper and frescoes were initially made with tempera on paper. Later, the frescoes were enlivened by diluted watercolor. Chalk was used to recreate elements like fountains and other standing structures.

Artifacts from Herculaneum

It would be remiss to leave out Herculaneum while lauding the gems rescued from Pompeii. Having equally (if not more) faced Vesuvius’ wrath in 79 AD, several frescoes, sculptures and other decorative items at the museum come from wealthy homes in Herculaneum.

Art, sculptures and frescoes

Here’s a list of items to spot from Herculaneum on your visit:

Fresco of Knucklebone players
Pastiche fresco
Fresco of still lives
Bronze bed decoration of Goddess Pomona
Bronze oil lamp depicting child and goose
Statue of Goddess Diana
Nymphaeum niche mosaic

Villa of the Papyri

The Villa of the Papyri was an exquisite house of sprawling proportions found in Herculaneum. Over 1,000 scrolls were unearthed from its ruins, and though most are yet to be deciphered, they revealed critical insights into the literary and philosophical occupations of the time. Besides these precious scrolls, the villa is also home to a regal collection of bronze and marble statues decorating its atrium (open-air space with a skylight surrounded by a building) and peristyle (continuous porch framed by columns in a courtyard). You can see the following objects from the villa at the Naples National Museum:

The Bronze Runners
Drunken satyr
Athena
Scipio
Hermes at rest

Frequently asked questions about Naples Museum Pompeii Artifacts

How does the Naples National Archaeological Museum have so many items from Pompeii and the wider Vesuvian region?

Many of the excavation finds from Pompeii, Herculaneum, etc. were taken to the royal Bourbon family’s private residence. These items were later used for showcasing at their Royal Museum before it was taken over by the unified Italian state and nationalized. Hence, the Pompeiian collection has changed hands from private to public to become what it is today.

Are all of Pompeii’s artifacts housed at the Naples National Archaeological Museum?

No, only those items that were part of the Bourbon collection as well as those that needed to be saved from disuse and disrepair, are housed in the museum. The archeological site of Pompeii still has many frescoes, mosaics and other elements on site even today, although many have been restored and refurbished.

What is the ‘secret Pompeii art’ that’s unmissable at the Naples museum?

This refers to the Gabinetto Segreto or Secret Room, which contains erotic (previously dubbed pornographic) objects from Pompeii and Herculaneum, especially from homes and brothels. Some 250 items comprise this collection, including phallic symbols, frescoes, sculptures, etc.

Are there artifacts from other Vesuvian sites besides Pompeii at the Naples Museum?

Yes, you can find objects from Herculaneum, Oplontis, Boscoreale and Stabiae at the Naples Museum. In fact, there is an entire collection devoted to Herculaneum’s Villa of the Papyri and its finds at the Museum.

How do I enhance my understanding of these displayed Pompeiian items at the Museum?

We definitely recommend visiting Pompeii (since it’s only less than an hour away from the Museum by road) and exploring the ruins to get a better understanding of what you get to see in the museum. Visiting the actual site also gives you more context on the purpose of the objects, their history and the circumstances under which they were created, and so on.