Frequently Asked Questions

Many ancient towns and cities have been found. What is so special about Pompeii, why does it so capture the public’s imagination?
Pompeii is famous because it was destroyed so suddenly and was buried as if in a time capsule for 17 centuries. Its rediscovery – building by building, street by street, block by block – provides historians a rare look at an ancient Roman townscape unchanged over the centuries by modernizations or renovations. Few other ancient sites were frozen in time as was Pompeii.

From Pompeii, historians continue to learn much about every aspect of ancient Roman life – from the arts and architecture to the social structure, baths, transportation and water systems.

Finally, Pompeii is also tragically famous for the body casts of the victims of the city’s destruction. Few other archeological sites have revealed such detailed “ghostly images” of real people, captured in their last moments, who lived and died almost 2000 years ago.

Are there human remains within the body casts?
None of the casts on display with the exhibit A Day in Pompeii contain human remains.

Are all the artifacts in the exhibition from Pompeii?
The majority of the objects in the exhibition were found within the city limits of Pompeii. However, about 10% of the objects — e.g. some of the coins and religious reliefs — were recovered in a villa outside of town and in the nearby Roman towns of Herculaneum or Oplontis, also destroyed by the Vesuvius eruption.

How often has Mt. Vesuvius erupted?
Little is recorded about the mountain’s activities prior its major eruption in 79 A.D. For the people living in the area in the first century A.D. Vesuvius was an idyllic mountain covered in vineyards. When the region was shaken by two strong earthquakes in 62 and 64 A.D. few associated these seismic events with the nearby mountain or saw them as a forewarning of the coming catastrophe.

The August 24, 79 eruption was sudden and massive and launched a period of dramatic volcanic activity with eruptions recorded almost every 100 to 200 years until about 1139. After that, the mountain remained quiet until December 16, 1631. On that date another massive explosion shook the area with great loss of life among the villages at the foot of the mountain. Volcanic activity resumed again in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. In the 20th century, there were two periods of intense activity – from 1913 to 1929 and again from 1933 to 1944. Since its last major eruption in March 1944, the mountain has experienced a period of rest and vineyards and farms have once again sprung up in the area.

How does the Mt. Vesuvius eruption of 79 A.D. rate in relation to worldwide volcanic eruptions through history?
Undoubtedly, the first century blast of Vesuvius was a big one but not the most explosive or destructive recorded.

Volcano experts measure the relative explosiveness of eruptions using the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI). Volume of products, eruption cloud height and qualitative observations are used to determine the explosivity value. The scale measures 0 to 8. Each interval on the scale represents a 10-fold increase in observed eruption power.

The 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius ranked as a 5.2 to 5.3, while the explosion in the Greek isles at Santorini (Minoan eruption) in 1646. B.C. was about 10 times more powerful at about 6.5 (This eruption is explored in more detail in the IMAX film GREECE: Secrets of the Past, showing at the Exploreum concurrently with the Pompeii exhibition.) The Mt. St. Helens 1980 eruption measured about 5.5 and was slightly more powerful than the eruption that destroyed Pompeii.

By comparison, the massive blast at Krakatoa in 1883 measured 6.7 to 6.8. Several ancient super volcanoes, such as those in Yellowstone that erupted in prehistoric times, ranked at 7 and 8.

What is the tour schedule for the exhibit A Day in Pompeii?
The Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei (SAP), the Italian governmental agency responsible for the site, originally produced A Day in Pompeii to tour Barcelona, Spain and Taiwan in 2005 and 2006.

In spring of 2005, staff of Mobile’s Gulf Coast Exploreum contacted the SAP about bringing an exhibition on Pompeii to the Gulf Coast in winter-spring 2007. The SAP agreed to send A Day in Pompeii to Mobile on its closing in Taiwan. The Exploreum then arranged a 4-city, U.S. tour which will keep the exhibit in the United States until January 2009. After Mobile the exhibit travels to the Science Museum of Minnesota, the San Diego Natural History Museum and Discovery Place in Charlotte.

About 25 additional artifacts were added to the basic exhibit for the U.S. tour, including a large and unique garden fresco, a funeral statue and five body casts of victims.

The exhibit returns to Pompeii in early 2009 for refurbishment before it is sent on the road again to Liverpool, England and Melbourne, Australia in 2009 and 2010.

Is this the same exhibit that showed at the Field Museum in Chicago and is planned to go to the Birmingham Museum of Art in fall 2007?
A Day in Pompeii is a different exhibit although it includes many of the same types of artifacts included in the exhibition Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption, which has several scheduled showings in the United States. Both exhibits include artifacts that showcase the culture, art and lifestyles of first century Pompeii as well as body casts of the victims of Vesuvius.

Visitors to the Mobile exhibition will have exclusive access to several bonus experiences. A customized audio tour of the exhibit, a virtual tour of Pompeii’s Theater District, science exhibits on volcanos and an IMAX film on another ancient civilization, Greece, are all available only at the Exploreum during the A Day in Pompeii exhibition.

The SAP is involved in the production of both exhibitions.

The Exploreum chose to mount the exhibit A Day in Pompeii because it was available during the Gulf Coast’s prime school visit and winter tourist seasons – January through June and for a relatively long run of 141 days. The Exploreum was also able to offset the inordinate costs of the exhibition, including two-way transatlantic shipment of heavy sculptures and frescoes, by negotiating a 4-city national tour. Four museums thus share the base costs of the project.

Hours of Operation
Open daily January 12 to June 3, 2007 except Mardi Gras (Feb. 20) and Easter Sunday (Apr. 8). Open Monday – Saturday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Last exhibit entry 4 p.m.; gallery closes 5:30 p.m.
Last IMAX show 4 p.m.
Last Virtual Journey Tour of Pompeii 4:30 p.m.

Ticket Prices: For Pompeii exhibit, Acoustiguide audio tour, virtual tour of Pompeii and all Exploreum science galleries: adult $18.25; senior (60+); youth (13-18) $17.25; child (2-12) $11. Add the IMAX film on Greece to any admission for only $4 more.

For more information, call (251) 208-6873 or (877) 625-4FUN; or visit www.exploreum.net.