The Virtual Archaeological Museum, known by the acronym MAV, is in Ercolano a few steps from the excavations and tells the story of life in the Roman towns at the foot of Vesuvius shortly before the eruption of AD 79. It displays no finds: the visit is based on three-dimensional reconstructions, multisensory effects, virtual books, holograms and synchronised projections, seventy installations in all.
What to see
An interactive table, accompanied by voices and market cries, illustrates the customs of the people of Herculaneum; graphic reproductions show the Villa of the Papyri with its library, the Forum and the Schola Armaturarum of Pompeii, the last room to be opened, in December 2010. The Theatre of Herculaneum, still buried under tuff and explored through tunnels in the Bourbon period, is reconstructed with a video wall, a high-definition audio system and a model on a scale of one to a thousand; the baths are reconstructed with the same techniques.
In a three-dimensional space called the «cave» you can see houses and gardens not only of Pompeii and Herculaneum but also of Stabiae, Baiae and Capri. The museum also has a gallery of about fifteen hundred square metres for exhibitions and events, with a screening room fitted with a twenty-six-metre 3D screen, where the eruption of Vesuvius of AD 79 is relived on a vibrating platform that simulates earthquakes, and an auditorium with three hundred seats.
Visiting
The museum occupies the former Iaccarino school building, restored after a memorandum of understanding signed in 2003; work began in 2005 and the building, covering about five thousand square metres on three levels, opened on 8 July 2008. Opening hours and tickets should be checked on the official website, museomav.it.
Our editors' tip
In its first two years the MAV had over two hundred thousand visitors, becoming the most visited museum in Campania and outstripping both the National Archaeological Museum and Capodimonte in Naples.
