Temple of Isis

The gallery of the Temple of Isis ideally exhibits all the materials from a single archaeological context, but also attempts to evoke the perception of the ancient monument at the time it came to light in 1764. It was the first religious building to be excavated at Pompeii and its wall paintings were incredibly well-preserved. These two elements spurred an extraordinary attention for the monument, which in turn led to a systematic work of graphic documentation: room 79 displays a modern scale model of the temple and historical drawings, as well as etched copper plates, which meticulously reproduce the unearthed structures and decorations.

Two rooms are dedicated to the portico of the building, which yielded the most considerable amount of wall decoration fragments in the whole collection: the various elements of wall decoration (the base, the pictures with architectural landscapes in the central section, the continuous frieze with wreaths on a black background and the decoration with various subjects on a white background on the top) appear on the gallery’s walls, proportionally at the same height of their original position. Room 82 exhibits the marble inscription - pulled from the top of the entrance door to the sanctuary - which records the reconstruction of the temple after the 62 AD earthquake, financed by Numerius Popidius Celsinus.

The decoration of the ekklesiasterion, the room were initiation ceremonies took place, evokes more openly the cult, represented both in the depiction of Io’s stories, as well as in the decorative elements of the bases and the architectural landscapes. Like in the other rooms of the gallery, the focus is not only on paintings but also on cult objects, furniture and sculptures found in the building. In the last room, the paintings from the sacrarium make up a sort of illustrated book on the fundamental concepts of the Isiac religion.

second floor
tag — Mann, Collections
Other collections.

NOTICE 

The Frescoes gallery will be closed to the public from 25 June to 29 June 2025,  for extraordinary maintenance works.

 

Thursday 26 June 2025 rooms II and III of the Farnese gallery will be closed to the public from 15.00 to 19.00, in order to allow the realization of an academic iniative.

 

The Epigraphic, the Gem, the Numismatic and the Villa dei Papiri galleries will be closed to the public until further notice, for refurbishment and extraordinary maintenance works.
The most representative artifacts from the Villa dei Papiri gallery will be temporarily displayed in the Hall of the Sundial.

 

The Hall of the Sundial and the galleries housing the Frescoes  and the Everyday life objects from the Vesuvian area will undergo a series of restoration and refurbishment works which might cause temporary access restrictions to one or more rooms, until 3 July 2025.

 

We apologize for the inconvenience.