NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- More than 2 million people visit the ruins of Pompeii every year, wearing down its already fragile stones and threatening murals and other archaeological treasures still being uncovered at one of Italy's most popular tourist sites.
The ancient city on the Bay of Naples that was buried by volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. was rediscovered in the 18th century and immediately became the destination of choice for European travelers. The German poet and dramatist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe made the trip in 1787 and wrote:
"On Sunday, we went to Pompeii again. There have been many disasters in this world, but few have given such delight to posterity, and I have seldom seen anything as interesting."
By reading a beautiful new book, "The Lost World of Pompeii," by Colin Amery, director of the World Monuments Fund in Britain, and Brian Curran Jr., WMF's West Coast consultant headquartered in Los Angeles, you can visit Pompeii without leaving home and learn of new efforts to conserve the endangered 164-acre site.
Exquisite color photos by Chris Caldicott bring to life the varied aspects of the ruins, some of which are off-limits to ordinary tourists as the simplest means of preserving them.
Particularly spectacular are the still colorful frescos and mosaics used to decorate the walls and floors of the homes of Pompeii's wealthy citizenry and the occasional bronze statue or home furnishing that has survived, along with examples of glass, silver, and pottery. Included are panoramic views of the city's theaters for gladiatorial and blood sports, and close-ups of temples, bathhouses, and markets.
Since Pompeii supplied historians and archaeologists with their first collection of nearly intact Roman houses, many on a grand scale, the book is particularly rich in text devoted to the development of domestic housing and the various types found in the city. Centered on pillared atriums that often enclosed formal gardens, these houses were designed to give pleasure, which is what Pompeian life was all about.
Skulls and skeletons appear in mosaics and frescos all over Pompeii, and one of the book's illustrations of a mosaic of a skeleton holding wine pitchers is a reminder to viewers to "Enjoy life while you still have it," the crux of Epicurian philosophy. Mural painters repeatedly depicted the pleasures of the good life and love-making on the walls of both private and public rooms.
Pompeii is still giving pleasure to thousands of visitors every day, as it has since it became a stop on Europe's Grand Tour in 1748, but what will be left for the enjoyment of future generations once wear and tear has taken its toll? Excavation has created a city of mostly roofless structures vulnerable to the elements, Amery and Curran point out, resulting in "incredible losses" to historic fabric.
"These problems were compounded by an explosion of tourist traffic," the authors write. "This alone has led to a review of the city's tourism management and interpretation of individual sites. Today it has been unanimously agreed to halt all major excavation plans in order to concentrate on the study and conservation of the vast amount of historic structures and fine works of art uncovered during 250 years of excavation."
This may put an end to excavated houses collapsing before they can even be studied due to poor site management and to the crumbling of frescos for lack of proper preservation, but what Pompeii really needs is financial support and technical assistance in planning for the future. This sort of aid was the object of placing the site on the World Monuments Fund biennial list of "100 Most Endangered Sites" beginning in 1996.
Since then, American Express Company and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation has underwritten a digitize map of the two-thirds of the site already excavated and WMF is working with the Pompeii officials to develop a comprehensive conservation manual that will include improvements in managed tourist flow. There also are plans for an educational program that will make a visitor's trip to Pompeii more rewarding than in the past.
The closing chapters of the book are devoted to Pompeii's place in Grand Tour itineraries of the 18th and 19th centuries, the influence of the Pompeian style of decoration on 18th century interior design, and examples of 18th century art relating to the site, including views of Pompeii by Italian artists that were avidly collected by British Grand Tourists. Most visitors today just send picture postcards saying "Wish you were here," meaning, of course, "Look where I am."
("The Lost World of Pompeii," J. Paul Getty Museum publication in association with the World Monuments Fund, 192 pages, $45)
