The Exhibition: Material. The wood that did not burn in Herculaneum

From 13 December 2022 to 31 December 2023 at the Reggia di Portici

Wardrobes, windows, chairs, chests, tabernacles, wooden beds and tables, there are more than 120 wooden objects recovered from Herculaneum and on display in some of the rooms on the main floor of the Royal Palace of Portici, a few meters from the rooms where starting from 1738 the Herculanense Museum was set up, the first nucleus of the archaeological collection.

An exciting and evocative walk that will lead the visitor into the life of the ancient Romans to discover the multiple uses of wood and its art. In direct contact with unique finds, accompanied by the intensity of the scents of the woody material, transformed by the ancient craftsmen into precious furnishings.

It is an initiative of:

History, architectural elegance, archaeology, nature, rare plants, regal decorations, refined rooms and the look that plunges into the blue of the sea that frames a breathtaking view.
Visitors to the Royal Palace of Portici will be amazed: so much wonder in a single ticket?

The royal site of Portici was built before the Royal Palace of Caserta at the behest of the King of Naples Charles of Bourbon and the Queen Amalia of Saxony. The sovereign was looking for a sublime place to devote himself to hunting, his wife wanted to live happy days surrounded by nature and the landscape between Vesuvius and the Gulf. So Portici immediately conquered their hearts.

Today, thanks to the museums managed and maintained by the Musa Centre, visitors can enjoy a multidisciplinary "full immersion".

Over time, in fact, the complex of the Royal Palace of Portici became "a place of accumulation of memories of art, of historical-scientific and landscape memories" and is still today "a place of contrasts in which the archaeological soul and the scientific soul live". Since 1935 it has housed the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Naples Federico II.