12 December 2024
Latest international blockbuster at National Museum of Australia takes visitors on a journey to famous ancient city with incredible large-scale projections and stunning objects
The volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii almost 2,000 years ago takes centre stage in a first-of-its-kind multisensory exhibition at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.
Pompeii combines evocative soundscapes and large-scale digital projections with over 90 fascinating objects, recreating life in the famous ancient city and presenting its inhabitants on the eve of its fateful destruction in 79 CE.
The exhibition includes an immersive recreation of the volcano’s eruption, scenes and sounds from daily life in the city, projections that make visitors part of the streetscape and close-up encounters with some of Pompeii’s most recent archaeological discoveries.
Artefacts on display – many never seen in Australia before – come from some of the most significant archaeological digs at Pompeii in the last 100 years, and include stunning frescoes, a monumental nymphaeum, sculptures, rare statues and moving replicas of casts of the victims who died in the disaster.
Everyday objects on show across four ancient Roman domus (houses) – including jewellery, paint pots, cosmetic items, cookware, statuettes of gods and goddesses and funerary objects – connect visitors directly with the people of Pompeii and their daily lives.
Visitors are immediately transported to the famous ancient city via a corso (main avenue) stretching more than 35 metres through the exhibition space and ending at a 6-metre-tall, floor to ceiling recreation of Mount Vesuvius.
National Museum Director Katherine McMahon said the Museum was proud to bring Pompeii to Australia and the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.
‘This exclusive exhibition will connect audiences with ancient Pompeii, its people and their lives in entirely new ways,' Ms McMahon said. ‘It will enable people to experience Pompeii, both as an ancient Roman city and a place of incredible discovery, like never before.
‘Pompeii’s evocative soundscapes and projections not only show the city before it was consumed by Vesuvius’s eruption, but also as a place of discovery that continues to connect our world with the ancient world.
‘It is a real privilege to host this spectacular ancient world experience for the first time in Australia and in the Southern Hemisphere. We are honoured to be working with our wonderful partners – Grand Palais and GEDEON Experiences in France and Parco Archeologico di Pompei in Italy – to put on such an innovative show for all Australians. This is an extraordinary international collaboration.’
Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the ACT Government was pleased to be able to support the National Museum in staging the Pompeii exhibition through the ACT’s Major Event Fund.
‘The ACT Government’s Major Event Fund has an outstanding track record of supporting major events and exhibitions that generate significant benefits for our visitor economy. The National Museum of Australia’s Pompeii exhibition will no doubt be a big drawcard for tourists to the Canberra region, as well as a wonderful experience for locals to enjoy,’ the Chief Minister said. ‘The recent Discovering Ancient Egypt exhibition proved incredibly successful, and I am sure Pompeii will also deliver strong visitation and economic outcomes.’
Pompeii is an exclusive collaboration with Parco Archeologico di Pompei in Italy, Grand Palais and GEDEON Experiences in France and the National Museum of Australia. The original Pompeii Immersive is produced by Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais and GEDEON Experiences with the collaboration of the Parco Archeologico di Pompei.
Head of Business Development at Grand Palais Mr Laurent Dondey said Pompeii was an open book to which we keep adding pages.
‘Today, at the National Museum of Australia, a new chapter is written, offering visitors a unique experience through emotion, surprise, beauty and knowledge connecting to Pompeii in an unprecedented way. At Grand Palais we are proud to see the presentation of Pompeii produced with utmost care and relevance for a most spectacular, scientific, rich, and aesthetical adaptation of the original exhibition.’
Director of the Parco Archeologico di Pompei Dr Gabriel Zuchtriegel said the exhibition would promote knowledge about the cultural heritage of the ancient Roman city and engage audiences beyond Italian and European borders.
‘Thanks to the fruitful institutional collaboration between the Parco Archeologico di Pompei and the National Museum of Australia, we hope to offer visitors a unique educational experience, akin to what one might encounter when visiting the excavations at Pompeii today: the opportunity to step into an exceptionally well-preserved ancient space, to walk its streets, to observe its buildings, to explore public areas and to enter the private homes and the lives of those who inhabited these spaces.’
National Museum lead coordinating curator Dr Lily Withycombe said the story of Pompeii was one of the most compelling in human history.
‘This exhibition is truly innovative. The story of Pompeii is dramatic, and this exhibition captures that drama. But it also gives an intimate look at what life was like in the ancient city and how it has continued to captivate our imaginations since its rediscovery,’ Dr Withycombe said.
‘The digital projections and soundscapes combined with ordinary and extraordinary objects give visitors an unparalleled glimpse into the everyday lives of people in ancient Pompeii. We are not only recreating the ancient city but directly transporting audiences there. And we are juxtaposing objects with innovative and cutting-edge digital technologies to tell Pompeii’s story in new and engaging ways.
‘Visitors will come away with a deeper, stronger connection with the people of Pompeii and their lives and the city they called home – despite more than 2,000 years of separation in time.’
Pompeii is on show at the National Museum of Australia from 13 December 2024 to 4 May 2025. Tickets are now on sale at www.nma.gov.au/pompeii
Media contact: James Giggacher on 0459 949 172 or media@nma.gov.au