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The authorities in Pompeii have recently announced that the long buried Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum - which is believed to contain a tantalizing “lost library” of Latin and Greek poetic and philosophical masterpieces - will be opened to the public for the first time since it was entombed in mud and lava. The villa, which had suffered from neglect over the years due partly to the sporadic nature of its excavation, will be open to visitors by arrangement only in groups of 25 on weekend mornings. The villa belonged to Lucius Calpurnius Piso (the father-in-law of Julius Caesar) and occupied an area of 30,000sq ft overlooking the sea. Considered one of the most magnificent villas of the Roman world, it was “recreated” in the 1970s to house the classical collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum at Malibu, which is a replica of how the villa is thought to have looked. Like Pompeii nearby, the villa was overwhelmed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. Whereas Pompeii was preserved under layers of ash - and therefore easier to excavate - the Villa of the Papyri is buried in volcanic rock formed by the solidified mud that engulfed it. The villa was first discovered in the 18th century by tunnelers exploring a well shaft. Many of the finest ancient bronzes on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples came from this site. More of it came to light a decade ago when modern archaeologists drove a crater 100 ft. deep into the rock. The crater, however, is vulnerable to flooding and scholars disagree over the high cost and feasibility of digging through the rock in search of a treasure that may or may not be there. The difficulties are compounded by the fact that much of the villa now lies beneath modern housing. The villa takes its name from the nearly 2,000 papyrus scrolls that have come to light since the first dig in 1752 – most of which have been painstakingly unrolled. They have proven to consist largely of the works of the Greek Epicurean philosopher Philodemus, who lived at Piso’s seaside villa and enjoyed his patronage. Scholars continue to speculate, however, about the possible existence of priceless lost works by Plato or Aristotle, which may be awaiting discovery...

What a lovely post! Just a little L.A. background: When the villa was recreated in Malibu it was reviled by quite a few people. They were used to seeing antiquities as "old" and battered. But the Getty Villa was not old ... it was built to replicate a "new" villa, as it would have been when it was just built. The columns are new, not damaged; the gardens are green; the murals are fresh and vivid, not faded. It is a gem. I'm sorry that the Getty appears to be putting it out to pasture or, at the very least, restricting it to a favored few. If I was a visitor to L.A. and not a full time dweller, I would ask for a tour.