Pompeii: Great Project, Championnet Complex reopened to public
Naples - Sixty richly decorated rooms known as the Championnet Complex have reopened to the public. The complex is named after the French general Jean Etienne Championnet who in 1798, following the flight of Ferdinand IV from Naples, continued the archaeological excavations of the site started by the Bourbons. The restoration work, undertaken as part of the preservation and safety project for Regio VIII of the Great Pompeii Project, has focused on the decorations, the walls and floors, as well as the architectural structures, and for the first time uses coverings consisting of neutral-colored Corian sheets set in metal frames to protect the most delicate mosaics and sections of the walls. The House of the Sailor has also reopened, featuring an elaborate mosaic located in one of the two entrance spaces and depicting six ships in safe harbor. The restoration project and reconstruction of the functional spaces of the area has also included improved access for visitors to the Championnet Complex through metal walkways and stairs. In particular, one of the underground spaces of the complex has been restored to its original function as a kitchen, and featuring on the large countertop are all the cooking vessels used during the imperial era, including olla boiling pots, frying pans and pots on iron tripods, as well as mortars for grinding, chopping and mixing all the ingredients. The large residential complex was probably designed for two families and consisted of two distinct domus buildings opening onto an atrium and later joined together via a corridor after the area was purchased. Shortly before 79 CE, the year of the Vesuvius eruption, a large peristylium was added to the complex featuring a tank for fish farming that earned it the name of 'courtyard of the eel'. The courtyard is a further connecting element between the complex and the House of Geometric Mosaics that opened to the public a few months ago. The entire Championnet Complex covers a surface area of 4,100 square meters, around half of which is taken up by the House of the Mosaics. It is set in an exclusive neighborhood of ancient Pompeii, due to its closeness to the main town square and Forum, and is unique in that it spreads across terraces, ramps and porticoes, all of which afford a panoramic view over the gulf and the islands. This was an uncharacteristic conception in relation to the traditional idea of the domus widely seen in Pompeii, in which all the rooms of the house were gathered around an atrium, almost as if to protect the intimacy of family life to the exclusion of outside spaces.