off.to.herculaneum

Our first archeological stop on our South Trip was Herculaneum. Buried by hot mudslides after the eruption of Mt. Vesivius in 79A.D., this smaller luxurious "vacation" town boasts well-preserved homes and resorts. We arrived after squeezing our giant bus down the narrower streets of Naples, to find that the weather had started to misbehave and sprinkle.


Undeterred by a little rain, our fearless leaders broke us up into our groups and we headed off down the main streets of Herculaneum to find a restored house in which to hide from the inevitable rain.


The first house we wandered around featured one of my favorite architectural solutions: a potty under the stairs.

It was then into an atypical Roman house, which was the product of several layers of remodeling and the selling of portions of larger homes to create a small domus. Unlike at Pompeii, the 'thieves' of Naples' National Archeological Museum haven't gobbled up the surviving, exquisite details of Herculaneum to shove out of context in a museum. My favorite apartment featured a fantastically large and preserved floor which we could walk on. It creates a much greater understanding of the original to feel and experience something as simple as the texture of the floor under your shoes.


Like a misfit band of Architectural Nancy Drews, we explored every unusual feature of this house--which I loving dubbed my Favorite Frankenstein Domus--and harassed Carol with countless theories and questions. Carol and Don studied these houses extensively and behind the scenes with research access years ago, so it was exciting to be there with a team that had such an understanding of the place...we've been truly blessed by their knowledge and connection to the country! (This session of intellectual snooping at Frankenstein Domus has been my favorite experience so far!)
Look at how preserved these elaborate wall paintings are!

The "locker rooms" at the small Bath complex gave the ruins at Herculaneum a human, tangible realism that reminded us that people actually lived here, partied here, made lives here, in such a modern way that it's slightly mind-boggling.


The advanced technology of the Romans is still amazingly impressive. Systems of steam pipes from fires were encased in a cavity under the raised floor of the baths--sauna anyone? But the attention to detail is what always gets me--this particular bath still has its original ribbed ceiling. Not only beautiful in its precision and texture, this ceiling created channels for condensation to run down along the arched ceiling, so your relaxing heat room session wouldn't be disturbed by ceiling condensation dripping down on you.


Herculaneum was a thrill to experience--again, no crowds meant we had the city's streets to ourselves. Your imagination can truly run wild when you're turned loose in such a combination of textures and layers of history: