Pompeii in popular culture

Herculaneum, like Pompeii, was buried under volcanic ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius

A meticulously reconstructed Pompeii bridal chariot that eluded the ancient city's modern-day looters is a star of an ambitious new exhibition in Rome, which invites viewers to reflect on today's connections with classical Roman and Greek civilizations.

In a few horrible hours, Pompeii was turned from a vibrant city into an ash-embalmed wasteland, smothered by a furious volcanic eruption in A.D. 79. Then in this century, the excavated Roman city appeared alarmingly close to a second death, assailed by decades of neglect, mismanagement and scant systematic maintenance of the heavily visited ruins.

A German-born archaeologist has been chosen to be the next director of Pompeii, which is still revealing its ancient mysteries centuries after a volcanic eruption destroyed the Roman city and is one of Italy's most popular tourist sites.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini announced on Feb. 20 that Gabriel Zuchtriegel won out over 43 other candidates for the job.

The lava may have cooled 2,000 years ago but Pompeii is a hot destination this Valentine's day with a special opening of the exceptionally preserved House of the Chaste Lovers.

This rich baker's dwelling, complete with garden, stables, mill and a sumptuous fresco of a tender kiss, stands on via dell'Abbondanza, the once-bustling thoroughfare of this ancient Roman city.

An international team of researchers led by Lund University archaeologists has virtually reconstructed a large house of the Pompeian banker Lucius Caecilius Iucundus. A research paper about the virtual reconstruction is published in the journal SCIRES-IT.