A city that disaster preserved intact

In the year 79, Vesuvius buried the Roman city of Pompeii under several metres of ash in a matter of hours.

It was a tragedy, but also a time capsule: the ash sealed the houses, the frescoes, the bread inside the ovens and even the graffiti on the walls. When they began to excavate it, almost 1,700 years later, they found a Roman city frozen on its last day.

They even recovered the exact shape of the victims, filling with plaster the hollows their bodies had left behind.