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British Museum plans major Pompeii show for 2013

The British Museum plans to take visitors into the streets, salons and bedrooms of the ancient Roman world with a major exhibition about the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, organizers announced Thursday.
The Associated Press ·
Dozens of objects recovered from the ruins of the ancient Roman cities Pompeii and Herculaneum will go on show outside Italy for the first time at a new exhibition at the British Museum, beginning in March. (The Trustees of the British Museum/Associated Press)

The British Museum plans to take visitors into the streets, salons and bedrooms of the ancient Roman world with a major exhibition about the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, organizers announced Thursday.

The two cities beside the Bay of Naples were wiped out by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D., but rich archaeological remains were left beneath the ash.

Italian authorities are loaning some 250 objects for the exhibition, from mosaics and paintings to casts of bodies encased in ash and a child's wooden crib, carbonized by high-temperature gases from the volcano. There are even the charred remains of figs and bread.

The show, which opens in March, will be the first about Pompeii in Britain for 40 years.

Curator Paul Roberts said previous exhibitions have focused on buildings and public spaces, but this one aims to show how the cities' residents lived.

"Domestic life is something we all share. We don't all go to the baths, we don't all go to the amphitheatre — but we all have a home," he said.

The exhibition will run March 28 to Sept. 29, 2013.

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