Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
From the site's main gateway on Corso Resina, head down the wide boulevard, where
you'll find the ticket office on the left. Pick up a free map and guide booklet here, and
then follow the boulevard right to the actual entrance into the ruins themselves.
Herculaneum's fate runs parallel to that of Pompeii. Destroyed by an earthquake in AD
62, the AD 79 eruption of Mt Vesuvius saw it submerged in a 16m-thick sea of mud that
essentially fossilised the city. This meant that even delicate items, such as furniture and
clothing, were discovered remarkably well preserved. Tragically, the inhabitants didn't
fare so well; thousands of people tried to escape by boat but were suffocated by the vol-
cano's poisonous gases. Indeed, what appears to be a moat around the town is in fact the
ancient shoreline. It was here in 1980 that archaeologists discovered some 300 skeletons,
the remains of a crowd that had fled to the beach only to be overcome by the terrible heat
of clouds surging down from Vesuvius.
The town itself was rediscovered in 1709 and amateur excavations were carried out in-
termittently until 1874, with many finds being carted off to Naples to decorate the houses
of the well-to-do or to end up in museums. Serious archaeological work began again in
