Pompeii: The Exhibition is in its final weeks at The Leonardo Museum of Creativity and Innovation in downtown Salt Lake. Visitors will experience the sights, sounds and sensations before, during and after the catastrophic 79 A.D. eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which left the city of Pompeii frozen in time. This amazing exhibition features more than 150 authentic, priceless artifacts from historic Pompeii.
On August 24, 79 A.D., the Roman city of Pompeii was buried under 4 – 6 feet of volcanic ash and pumice by the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius, entombing everything in its path for more than 1700 years. The same ash and debris from the unexpected eruption that destroyed the city also remarkably preserved it. Pompeii: The Exhibition will feature more than 150 precious artifacts on loan from the unparalleled collection of the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Italy. Included in the list are 10 artifacts on their first ever tour in any exhibition in the United States. Some of the items include a first century, bronze gladiator helmet; a Citharist bronze statue of Apollo dating to 50 A.D and several remarkable fresco paintings, including one of Dionysus and Silenus, dating between 50 - 79 A.D.
As visitors walk through the exhibition, they will travel back in time to the fateful morning of the eruption. In a media-rich, object-based and immersive experience, they will learn how Pompeii was a bustling commercial port and strategic military and trading center. Artifacts – including frescoes, mosaics, and statues from the sites – will recreate a sense of this world, as visitors discover how its people lived, loved, worked, worshipped and found entertainment.
Pompeii: The Exhibition tells the tale of a city hidden from view and forgotten for centuries until its rediscovery more than 250 years ago. The sudden disaster that destroyed Pompeii also preserved it, and over time archaeologists have uncovered a unique record of its daily life — roads, buildings, municipal services, paintings, mosaics, artifacts, and even preserved bodies. Ongoing excavations at the site provide an ever-evolving picture of everyday life at the height of the Roman Empire.
The Exhibition experience will include:
- Introductory theatre where the scene is set in a video with dramatic reconstructions that describe Pompeii and the nearby volcano.
- Visitors are then transported back in time to 79 A.D. where they find themselves in a reproduced atrium from a Roman villa and where they will embark on a journey through the ancient city.
- Through the use of projections, audio, video, photographic murals, and graphic reproductions of frescoes and mosaics, visitors will experience different locations that existed in the city, including a market, a temple, theater and baths.
- Over 150 authentic artifacts will help bring the story of Pompeii to life. These remarkable objects include: Mosaics and frescoes, gladiator helmets, armor, and weapons, a ship’s anchor, lamps, jugs, cups, plates, pots and pans and other household objects as well as furniture, jewelry, medical instruments, and tools.
- A simulated 4D eruption theater will allow visitors to experience the deathly impact Mount Vesuvius had on this ancient city, culminating in the reveal of full body casts of twisted human forms, asphyxiated by extreme heat and noxious gases and forever frozen in time.
Members of The Leonardo will enjoy a $9.99 price for Pompeii: The Exhibition. General Admission ticket prices are $24.99 for adults, $19.99 for children 3-15 and $21.99 for Seniors (65+) and Military (with valid ID) $21.99. School Group pricing is $8.99. Groups of 15 or more are priced at $18.99. Advance ticket reservations are recommended and can be made by visiting theleonardo.org/Pompeii or The Leonardo Box Office. For more information about group visits or how to become a member of The Leonardo, please call 801-531-9800 ext. 202 or visit theleonardo.org/memberships.
