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Pompeii's Tannery to be restored

Works will start before end-2008, sponsored by UNIC

Before end-2008, works will start to restore a tanning plant rated as one of the most ancient worldwide. It is found on Pompeii excavation grounds, near the Stabia Gate, in the area of the theatres (Region I, Insula 5). The works will be sponsored by Unione Nazionale Industria Conciaria (UNIC), which has recently signed a convention with Pompeii's Archaeological Office.

Discovered between 1873 and 1874, excavations of the tannery were completed by Amedeo Maiuri during the 1950s. The building comprised the residence of the owner and the rooms devoted to tanning, including a porch divided into six sectors separated by five partitions, 3 of which embedded the pipes needed to bring water to jars. At the back lie 15 round brick basins coated with cocciopesto, complete with inlet and outlet holes.
Twelve of these were used for vegetable tanning of hides, and 3 for rock alum tanning of skins. Below the central porch, the first step of processing took place, that is skinning. Then, hides and skins were put into vats filled with tannins. A drying room was probably found on the first floor of the first room, where hides and skins were hung to dry.
At the bottom of the courtyard, a triclinium includes a central table which used to be decorated with a well-known mosaic now exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Naples.
The mosaic features a naturalistic reproduction of a skull and bricklayer's tools to allegorically hint at transient life and impending death.

These exhibits, along with a great number of tools, which are also kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, bring evidence to a high quality level of processing and infrastructure, which had been used for nearly two thousand years, until the industrial leap brought in chromium salts and powered machinery.

The plant has been investigated by a team of French archaeologists headed by Jean Pierre Brunn, current director of Jean Berard Centre in Naples, a specialist of antique crafts, in collaboration with the Archaeological Office. Their work is focussed on a tentative reconstruction of the plant, on which the restoration works will be based. The Archaeological Office's person in charge for the works is architect Paola Rispoli.

Unione Nazionale Industria Conciaria
Tel: 39 02/880771.1 - Fax: 39 02/72000120
E-mail:unic@unic.it

Oprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei
Tel: 39 081/2486112 - Fax: 39 081/662475
E-mail:delev@iol.it

Press release
January 2008
UNIC