ANTINOUS THE GAY GOD

VIRTUAL MUSEUM COMES TO THE RESCUE

AS HERCULANEUM FACES MODERN RUIN

THIS year major museum exhibitions in Madrid and London focus on the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius.

But archaeologists are alarmed that those precious sites are now falling to ruin again ... as wind, rain, and thieving tourists threaten to remove the last vestiges that the volcano's lava and pyroclastic surges missed 1,934 years ago.

To help avert a second disaster whose ramifications would be irreversible, experts have opened a Virtual Archaeological Museum at Herculaneum which offers visitors and archaeologists alike an in-depth look at the site ... without further endangering the actual ruins.

The MUSEO ARCHAEOLOGICO VIRTUALE (MAV) is just a stone’s throw away from the archaeological dig at the ancient Herculaneum.

It is one of the most advanced centers of culture and technology applied to Cultural Heritage and communication in Italy.

It houses a unique and extraordinary museum: a virtual and interactive tour during which visitors experience the emotion of travelling back in time to the moment before the eruption of 79 AD, described by Pliny, which destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Over seventy multimedia installations bring back the life and splendor of the main archaeological areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Baia, Stabia and Capri.

Through scene reconstructions, visual interfaces and holograms, you are led into a virtual dimension, experiencing the archaeological heritage interactively by exploiting the new opportunities off ered by multimedia technologies.

The MAV is a place for learning and understanding, where the real and the imaginary meet to give life to new ways of learning and of entertainment.