Voorwerp: Romeinse paard en wagen (kopie).
Afmeting: 21x13 cm.
Periode: laat.

In 1977, H.R. Allen added the finishing touch to his spectacular scale-model of a block of Roman houses from Pompeii. He made the scale-model for the exhibition ‘Pompeii AD 79’ in the London Royal Academy of Arts. It is a perfect example of the luxurious houses the Romans built in the south of Italy in the first century AD.

An eruption of Vesuvius buried the town of Pompeii in 79 AD under a thick layer of volcanic ashes. The buildings you see in the scale-model were excavated between 1926 and 1932. The scale-model shows the block of houses as it was before the disastrous eruption. On the wall of one of the houses, a portrait has been painted of the Greek writer Menander. All the other wall paintings, house altars, mosaic floors, statues, roof tiles and furniture are factual reconstructions as well. A few years ago, the scale model came in possession of the museum via the University of Manchester.



Scale-model, scale: 1 to 25, dimensions: 6 x 5,4 metres,
the block of houses dates from the 1st century AD