Project

Contextualisation is a keynote concept in the design of the Swedish Pompeii Project. It recurs as a common ambition in all separate parts of the project.

Fieldwork in Insula V 1
The focus on context contributed to the choice of study object, a full insula instead of isolated houses, the by far more common base unit in the tradition of studies on Pompeian domestic architecture. The larger frame invites to study interrelation between the houses over time as well as the development of the separate units. When Pompeian time was arrested, Insula V 1 had known at least 250 years of urban life, during which certain moments brought major changes both in property use and in the arrangement of property boundaries. These changes should be discussed in relation to the general development of the town. Evidence related to the major events in the life of the town, proper to this insula, should be collected and commented upon, just as should all other fragments of Roman life that might still be retrieved through investigation of its ruins.

The prerogative for this study is the creation of a new, accurate and thorough documentation of the standing structures. Some excavation took place in spots critical for the understanding of earlier phases of the city. In the course of such investigations, prehistoric (Early Bronze Age/Palma Campania) layers, including a volcanic ash layer, were encountered for the first time in Pompeii.

Pompeii revived
The study of Pompeian afterlife aims to achieve three major results. One is to record ancient Pompeian material and Pompeian influences in Sweden from the 18th century to the present. Another is to discuss the motivation behind the references made to Pompeii in classicising architecture and interior decoration. The third is to put the Swedish experience in a larger, international context.