“It’s a beautiful exhibition and should become permanent. If not, I hope it’s replaced by another equally worthy one as early as December 1st.” “It’s splendid! Visitors love it. Why not make it permanent? It adds great value to the visit.” “Truly splendid…. It should be permanent!” “An extraordinary exhibition! Objects created with a skill that’s hard to imagine. Jewels of rare refinement and everyday tools that leave you speechless. The only tragedy is that it’s not a permanent exhibition.”
These are some of the voices gathered over the months that have urged the management of the Herculaneum Archaeological Park to make permanent the exhibition “SplendOri. Luxury in Ornaments in Herculaneum” w and so comes the decision: from permanent exhibition to permanent display.
Launched on Dec. 20, 2018, almost a year into its opening, the Park’s first major exhibition was met with an ovation of acclaim that resulted in the long-awaited decision.
“SplendOri. Luxury in Ornaments at Herculaneum” is the exhibition that brought out of storage, for the first time in such massive quantities, gold jewelry, precious objects, and artifacts of personal and daily use.
The opening of the exhibition corresponded, in December 2018, to the opening of the Antiquarium, a building in need of final works before it could be used by visitors.
“The operation was the result of a great effort to adapt the building to welcome visitors by adjusting it with every security measure that would allow its opening – declares Director Francesco Sirano – we offered the community and visitors a functional space that also allowed us to host conferences, conventions, and workshops. We decided to meet the many requests from visitors to make the exhibition permanent, but this does not deter us from our goal of equipping the Park with a museum that completes the visitor experience in all aspects and in an innovative way.
SplendOri was a first step that allowed us to combine fruition and research to define the museographic design of the site. The current arrangement will be enriched during 2020 without ever letting the public’s enjoyment of the goods diminish.The research work is continuing and we are developing the other two exhibitions in the cycle “Herculaneum. Talent Past and Present” that will see the light of day in the coming months dedicated to highlighting two other peculiar aspects that make Herculaneum a unique case in the entire Roman world: one on wood and cabinetmaking, the other on food and table civilization .”
“SplendOri. Luxury in Ornaments in Herculaneum” w is a collection of about 200 jewelry, precious, fine household furnishings, tableware unique in quantity and cultural value of the pieces on display that is presented to the public at the very site of discovery; objects that belonged to the ancient Herculaneans, some found with the inhabitants in an attempt to bring them to safety from the impending catastrophe of the eruption, others found in the dwellings of the ancient city.
Equally interesting is the planning of the staff dedicated to the exhibition, which, in order to always make the visit stimulating, will offer the display of different pieces that will not only be golds but will include objects of daily use while still connected to luxury and the exaltation of the social status of those who could display in their residences objects and furnishings of great value. If already the famous deer statues, which gave the domus its name, and the Demeter from the Villa of the Papyri greet visitors, when they return from the exhibitions held abroad soon they will be able to see the mask from the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, coins and a section of wool carding comb, this very rare find demonstrating in the ancient city the manufacture of textiles (the latter two from the ancient beach).