Friday, June 8, 2012

Naples

On Wednesday we spent the most wonderful day in Naples.


The other four set off to visit Herculaneum, near Pompeii, which had also been engulfed by Vesuvius. As we had been there previously we decided to visit the Archaeological Museum in Naples where most of the artefacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum are on display.

It was quite breathtaking – rooms full of marble and bronze statues – showing surprisingly little damage, marble wall paintings and columns as well as mosaic floors and pictures. Some of these were incomplete but there were a large number which were in glowing colours, showing in infinite detail the minutiae of ancient Roman life.

One room was labeled the ‘Secret Room’ which was restricted to people over 14 years of age. The collection of artefacts and pictures in this room demonstrated the ancient Roman attitude to sex very clearly.

As well as the museum we visited some magnificent churches and a mediaeval castle. The churches in Naples are among the best we have seen this trip with painted ceilings, marble columns, gold decoration and beautiful stained glass.

We had a really great time to celebrate our last shipboard day before disembarking in Civitavecchia on Thursday.


                                           Mosaic floor from Pompeii.


                                           Interior of the Duomo.



                                        The marble statues in the museum were rather large!

                                        The exterior of the Basilica.  Unfortunately we could not take photos inside.
                                         Looking up at the ceiling in the church of Jesu Nuevo.




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love those enormous statues. So much more interesting than "modern art"!

Di

David said...

always think the images in these old churches look amazing

Amanda said...

Aww, No photos of the sex room? I mean, secret room?

Anonymous said...

They don't want to make the blog NSFW* dear!


xxx
Di

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