Friday, May 15, 2015

Pompeii - Saturday Snapshots

This past Thursday my husband and I traveled back in time to 24 August, 79 AD to the ancient city of Pompeii and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius - via Seattle's Pacific Science Center. Here are a few of the many photos I took of the exhibit. (Click on photos to enlarge.)
I wonder what the philosopher (on the left)
is contemplating.
Beautiful mosaic table and section of floor,
along with murals portraying life in Pompeii
Amphora used to store wine, grain, water, etc.
Armor
Most compelling of all to me were the casts of people caught in the volcano's ash and lava.
Top to bottom: a pregnant woman,
a child, and a man

The exhibit also featured displays of cooking utensils, jewelry, art, oil lamps, surgical tools, and even a recreation of a brothel. Near the end of the exhibit, we were ushered into a room with a huge movie screen filling one wall. Here's what happened, as described on the museum's website:

Then, as the floors shake and the walls rumble, relive the volcano's catastrophic eruption through an immersive CGI experience, culminating in the reveal of 6 full body casts of twisted human forms, asphyxiated by extreme heat and noxious gases and forever frozen in time.

The shake and rumble were created by sound, and plumes of water mist simulated the noxious gases, but it was still a cool experience.

For an interesting video that encapsulates Mt. Vesuvius's most famous eruption, check out the video on History.com: HERE

Twitter: @SandyNachlinger
Facebook: sandy.nachlinger

*****
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25 comments:

  1. I have had the amazing experience of visiting Pompeii (although many, many years ago now). I don't remember seeing any of the beautiful exhibits in your first photos, but I did see the human plastercasts - the woman with her hands over her mouth and nose I found profoundly disturbing and upsetting at the time.
    Seeing it again now had the same effect.

    Now I'm wondering if I will ever have the time or inclination to convert all my old photos of that amazing trip into digital. It would be nice to preserve them and maybe use for future posts....but the time it would take and the quality of the copy ..... have you ever tried to copy old photos ?

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    1. I have scanned all our old photos and then using a photo editing software they can look quite good. But I will say our photography skills have really improved with digital.

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    2. I've scanned quite a few of our old photos and been pleased with the results. I have Photoshop on my computer and have been able to bring out a lot of details by using the lighten/darken and contrast features. It's time-consuming but worth the effort.

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  2. sounds and looks like a very interesting exhibit

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  3. Wow! This was sobering! And absolutely beautiful! How lucky we are that these things have been preserved!

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    1. Since Mount Rainier isn't that far from me, this exhibit definitely had an impact. As we exited the main exhibit, we passed a poster listing all the things we should have in our emergency preparedness kit. That really hit home.

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  4. What an incredible exhibit, thanks for sharing.

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  5. Sandra, I was struck by the child. I hate to think of a child being afraid. I guess there's much of that even today with the earthquakes in Nepal. I wrote a long post today, but I did include some pictures. Here's Mine

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    1. The casts of bodies caught in the eruption were shown at the end of the exhibit. Although the room was filled with people, voices were hushed. Everyone must have been as moved as I was.

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  6. This sounds an amazing exhibition, it would be fascinating to see it.

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  7. Thanks for sharing your photos. Exhibits like this are unusual for us to be able to see.

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    1. Now that we're retired, I hope my husband and I can take advantage of all that the Seattle area offers. We're lucky to live near such a vibrant city.

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  8. Oh, my, what an impressive exhibition...and so sad. Thanks for sharing...and here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST

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  9. Oh wow, that's a stunning exhibition! I went to Pompeii a few years ago and it was a very sobering experience! Thanks for visiting my post yesterday :) I hope you have a great weekend!
    Juli @ Universe in Words

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    1. I would love to actually visit Pompeii. Having seen this exhibit, I would definitely have an appreciation for the magnitude of the volcano's eruption. It truly wiped Pompeii off the map.

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  10. Awesome exhibit and what a tragic moment captured like art. Thanks for your photo-sharing!

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  11. What a fantastic exhibit. I've always wanted to go Pompeii so I'll have to look to see if this exhibit will be anywhere near me anytime soon!

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  12. I still remember seeing the National Geographic article about the eruption of Vesuvius (and the archeological dig to expose the town of Herculaneum) when I was about ten years. It made such an impression on me! Pompeii and the coast of Naples is on my bucket list of places to see before I die. What a great exhibit!

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    1. Pompeii would be an amazing place to visit. I hope to go there someday too.

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  13. Very cool! My husband and I had planned to go to Pompeii on our honeymoon, but then we opted to spend that day in Rome. I did visit Pompeii when I was 14 and was amazed by it, even if my mother wouldn't let me some of the raunchier sites! I've heard this exhibit advertised on the radio...if we were closer we would have gone up!

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    1. I'm not sure it's something your children would have enjoyed, although I found it to be fascinating. You have to reserve a certain time to be admitted to the exhibit, which is a good system since so many school groups are going there on field trips.

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  14. That would be so interesting to see. Hopefully it makes it over somewhere close to us on the East Coast sometimes. If it does we will definitely go see it.

    Sean at His and Her Hobbies

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  15. What an interesting exhibition. I have been to Pampeii about 20 years ago, and would love to visit again.

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  16. Thank you for sharing. I found Pompeii to be quite interesting.

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  17. Do you think you'd like to go there and see what it's like now? I think it's so sad what happened to them, you can only imagine the panic. I can't believe they have something that gives you a bit of the experience! That's quite amazing. Seeing this exhibition definitely something I'd be interested in doing, your photos are brilliant :D
    Have a great day,
    Amy x

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