Walkthrough the exhibition

MOBILE, Ala. – Mobile’s Gulf Coast Exploreum announces its 2007 international exhibition – A Day in Pompeii from January 12 to June 3. The exhibit, a collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei, continues the Exploreum’s blockbuster exhibit series, which included the highly successful 2005 The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition.

The exhibit gives visitors a feel for the bustle of daily life in Pompeii, one of Imperial Rome’s most cosmopolitan cities, and an understanding of its rich culture. What makes the exhibition most compelling, however, is the tragic story of Pompeii’s destruction on 24 August 79 A.D. by the eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius and of the human toll of that event.

Through photo murals and architectural features and an audio guide full of the sounds of a vibrant, busy town, the Exploreum hopes to offer visitors a feel for what it would have been like to stroll through the city before it was destroyed. Hundreds of authentic artifacts rescued from the volcanic debris that buried Pompeii for over 17 centuries add to the visitor’s understanding of what life might have been like for Pompeii’s residents.

Visitors enter the exhibit gallery through a reconstruction of one of Pompeii’s main gates. It is perhaps August 22 in that fateful year. The commercial life of the city is explored. Coins and jugs for holding wine are on display in a nearby wine shop. Artifacts such as fish hooks, bronze scales, and baking ovens tell of the commercial activity in the town, a regional hub for trading and where public farmer’s markets were held regularly.

Further on, the homes and villas of Pompeii come to life. Richly-colored room-sized frescoes, garden statues, furniture, luxury personal items such as jewelry and hair combs, and everyday plates and bowls, tell of the Roman love for beauty. Finally, mythical figures from both Greek and Roman legends, small household altars and large marble statues evoke both the public and private religious beliefs of Pompeii’s citizens as well as their funereal customs.

Finally, visitors experience the darkening skies and the violent sounds of Vesuvius spewing its ash and debris onto the city. They look upon plaster casts of eight of the volcano’s victims, frozen in their last moments: a couple embracing, a man holding a cloth to his mouth, a dog on its chain and others. Archeologists made these casts by pouring plaster into the cavities left in the thick volcanic materials after the trapped victims’ bodies decayed. Few other exhibits can connect visitors in such an emotional and personal way with individuals who lived over 2000 years ago.

Bonus Virtual Tour – included with exhibit admissions
Exploreum exhibit tickets include the Pompeii exhibit and admission to the Exploreum’s Hearin-Chandler Virtual Journey’s Theater, one floor above the Pompeii exhibit gallery, and all other science exhibit galleries.

The featured presentation in the Virtual Journeys Theater is a 12-minute Virtual Tour of Pompeii’s Theater District, reconstructed by archeologists to appear as it might have before the city’s destruction. Only the Exploreum’s state-of-the-art, 40-seat digital theater reproduces images in such color and detail that audience feel they are actually there. Many will remember the impact of the tour of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, offered during The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition.

Other features

• GREECE: SECRETS OF THE PAST, IMAX® Dome Theater. Showing concurrently with the Pompeii exhibit is this spectacular educational film that explores another ancient civilization. Released to rave reviews in early 2006, GREECE takes audiences to 5th century Athens to view the Parthenon in all its glory and to Santorini in the beautiful Greek isles to witness another catastrophic volcanic eruption in 1646 B.C. Add a ticket to Greece to any Pompeii admission for only $4 more!

• Pompeii Specialty Gift Shop. Visitors will exit the Pompeii gallery through the Exploreum’s exclusive “Pompeii” boutique, offering many exotic and unique items that might have been found in Pompeii’s own marketplaces.

• Café. Refreshments and light meals are also available on site at the Exploreum’s Lil Lunchbox atrium café.

• Length of Visit. With the IMAX film GREECE: SECRETS OF THE PAST, visitors should plan to spend up to 3 to 3 _ hours enjoying every aspect of the Exploreum’s Pompeii adventure package.

• No cameras or recording devices allowed in the exhibit gallery.

• Purchase tickets online at www.exploreum.net or at the Exploreum Box Office, 65 Government Street in Historic Downtown Mobile or by calling 1-877-625-4FUN.

• Tickets prices: For Pompeii exhibit, Acoutiguide audio tour, virtual tour ofPompeii and all Exploreum science galleries: adult $18.25; senior (60+)/youth (13-18) $17.25; child (2-12) $11. Add the Greece IMAX film to your Pompeii admission for only $4 more.

Group discounts, private showings and overnight adventures available, call (251)208-6879.

Hours of operation (subject to change). Open daily January 12 to June 3, 20007 except Mardi Gras Tuesday (February 20) and Easter Sunday (April 8). Open Monday- Saturday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Last exhibit entry at 4 p.m.( gallery closes at 5:30 p.m.), last IMAX film at 4 p.m. and last Virtual Journey Tour of Pompeii at 4:30 p.m.

General Information (251)208-6873 or (877(625-4FUN or www.exploreum.net