In 2002 I visited the German town of Aschaffenburg, where I cam across the Pompejanum. From my travelogue:
In the mid-19th century, King Ludwig I of Bavaria
chose Aschaffenburg as his summer residence and left his mark on the
city. One of his lasting legacies is the Pompejanum,
built between 1843 and 1848. Here is a nice
site of images, alas no descriptions. An ardent admirer of
antiquity, and animated by the excavations at Pompeii, he commissioned
an Architect, Friedrich von Gärtner, to
build a Roman villa, not as a residence, but as an illustrative object
for lovers of antiquity. Gärtner selected the house of Castor and Pollux
at Pompeii as his model, and made some adjustments because the villa
was to be situated in a vineyard on the slopes of the Main river. One
can see the villa from various points at the river.
The building was heavily damaged in the bombings but was totally
reconstructed and restored, and contains artworks from the Staatliche
Antikensammlungen and Glyptothek
München (Collections of Antiquities and Glyptothek at Munich). I was
too early to be able to view the second floor, which was not reopened
until July 25. The original building and restoration has not been
without controversies, and I hope to write more extensively on this and
the Saalburg project initiated by the emperor Wilhelm II at a later
date.
In any case, it was an interesting visit. The villa was rather
crowded though, so I had a bit of trouble taking photographs, and here –
and in the museum downtown as well – I was dogged by watchful guards to
make sure I didn't use a flash. Here
is what little I could do.
