Plaster casts of Pompeian bodies

Plaster casts of Pompeian bodies. The objects are located in the Archaeological Park of Pompeii.

These are not real bodies, because during the eruption of the volcano: dust and heat killed people. Several meters of ash covered the bodies, which simply disappeared under the influence of temperature, creating an empty space inside.

In 1864, the workers whom doctor Giuseppe Fiorelli – director of excavations in Pompeii – ordered to notify him of everything, drew the attention of on a skeleton lying in one of the streets. Only the skull was excavated, the body and clothing decomposed, leaving the bones in a hollow space bounded by petrified ash. Fiorelli came to the conclusion that pouring through a small hole into this space liquid stucco will recreate body shape. Thanks to this method, to this day we can admire the casts of the bodies of the inhabitants of Pompeii twisted in pre-death convulsions.