Herculaneum Things to Do Tips by Balam

Pompeii was the most fantastic thing i had seen untill i went to herculanium. It is simply amazing (and thankfully a lot smaller than Pompeii). It is very easy to get to. Just get the Circumvesuviana train and get off at Eculano. when you come out of the station it is just a short walk (less than 10 minutes) to the bottom of the road opposite the station and the entrance is straight facing you. you can not go wrong as it is sign posted all the way.

Entrance to Herculaneum, Pompeii is e11.00 and entrance to the museum at naples is e9.00
For visitors from Euopean countries under 18 years of age and over 65 years entrance is free but You must have evidence of age (i.e a passport) with you, visitors between 18 and the day before their 25th birthday entrance is half price. but ONLY IF RESIDENT IN EUROPE.. Various other passes ect can be purchased at various prices (3 day passes to all 5 ancient sites (Herculaneum, Pompeii, Oplontis, Stabiae, Boscoreale) are e20.00

Opening times
November - March. Every day from 8.30 am to 5 pm. (last admission 3.30 pm)
April - October. Every day from 8.30 am to 7.30 pm. (last admission 6 pm)

Closed on January1st, May 1st and December 25th

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You can get a free guide and map from the small information office on the left as you go in.

your ticket lasts all day so unlike Pompeii you can go out of the site get something to eat or drink from one of the bars opposite and then go back in again.

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This House dates to the Samnite period and has retained it's original apperance even though it was subjected to various alterations around the mid 1st century AD, The most striking feature of the house is that is retained it's extenal facade completely preserved right up to it's second storey, including it's entrance door, windows, light holes: it is in fact one of the most complete examples of architectural facade in the houses of both herculaneum and pompeii. The most unusual feature of the house, and the one which it gets it's name from is the large wooden partition of carbonized wood with 3 doors that enclosed the wide opening of the tablinum

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Built in the early Augustan period around the year 10 BC but decorated at a later period under Claudius or Nero the Central Baths stand in what was almost the centre of town, just a short distance away from the public buildings and the street of the forum. Larger than the baths of pompeii the baths of Herculaneum have much the same division and distribution of the rooms but unlike those of pompeii it did not undergo any alterations from the time it was built to the time it was buried.

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This house has an impressive facade preceded by a portico and a loggia, it is unique in ancient domestic architecture as a whole of a house destined for several families and containing several apartments, it comprises actualy 2 small independent lodgings, one on the ground floor to which acces was gained by a long passage connected with a craftsmans shop and the other on the upper floor with small bedrooms, kitchen and balconey over looking the street. Inside you will not find the usual atrium as in it's place is a small courtyard, closed by a high parapet that served to provide light to the rooms and to collect the rainwater dripping from the eaves. The replacement of the atrium by the courtyard represents a neccessary condition for the transition of the typical house inhabited by just one family to a house comprising several dwellings.

The house derives it's name from the 'Opus Craticium' by which it's walls were built. This is a building technique by which the walls are made of a framework of wood or trellis of reeds, filled in with a good deal of lime.

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The House Of The Mosaic Atrium is one of the finest houses in what might be called the panoramic district of the city. it would have had a comanding view of the coast and the gulf beyond. The house derives it's name from the decoration of the floor of it's atrium, consisting of a mosaic with a simple geometric design of black and white squares. A striking and unusual feature of the house is that the the living quarters do not face onto the atrium and tablinum but are arranged at right angles to them, and arrangement determind both by the space available and by the panoramic views that would have been enjoyed of the towns southern escarpment,

A portico in which many carbonized remains of wooden looms were preserved leads into the area of the garden onto whic faces 4 small bedrooms and an exedra adorned with decorations.

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This hose was so named because of the Bronze Bust that was found of what has been presumed was the owner

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