Last Days Of Pompey Exhibition In Madrid Until January
On August 24th of 79 AD a young boy pointed out to his uncle, Pliny the Elder, that “a cloud of unusual size and shape is appearing” over the nearby city of Pompey.
Pliny the Elder, along with the young boy, who was his nephew, were in Misenum, about 25 kms away from Pompey in what is today Naples and where he was stationed as commander of the Roman fleet.
In the hours that would follow, thousands would die in the wake of Vesuvius’ eruption, their bodies sealed beneath a mixture of ash, rocks and pumice – and a global historical moment was born.
Among the thousands who perished was Pliney himself who had set sail on the day after to investigate the eruption, and died with all his men of suffocation from the dense smoke.
The popular fascination with Pompeii remains today and a new immersive exhibition is in Madrid brings the city´s daily life and violent death back life for a modern visitor.
The exhibition at the Immersive Experience Centre at the Matadero. transports us back in time to the last days of Pompeii, and where its lifestyle, customs and gastronomy are discovered first-hand.
This exhibition is a unique opportunity to feel the tragic end under the fury of Vesuvius suffered by the city that was a symbol of the emerging power of the Roman Empire. It is an exhibition that enables visitors to walk through the streets of the old Roman city, visiting the rooms and learning about daily life just before the explosion of Vesuvius in August of 79.
With the help of virtual reality technology, the first great entertainment of the Pompeians can be experienced first-hand: entering an amphitheatre crowded with an expectant public mounted on a chariot to witness a thrilling gladiatorial fight. A fight for survival of gladiators against wild beasts, one of the epic moments of entertainment in the city.
MAD inaugurates its Metaverse Room where the public, turned into virtual avatars, will be able to walk freely and interact with the space visiting the famous Villa of the mysteries. Transported back in time thanks to the latest technologies, they will be able to visit spaces within the famous location, such as its gardens, Atrium, Cloister and baths.
