Address: Insula 9
Area: 510 square meters
Rooms: 12
The building, known as the House of Ceres, stands on Via di Castrizio in the southwest corner of Insula 9. The House of Ceres was first excavated in 1951. Ground water and the lack of drainage system severely damaged some of the murals and walls of the house. Attempts to stop the scattering of the house and the introduction of reinforced concrete structures during the 1950s only worsened the situation. Since then, technology has changed and archaeologists have managed to stop or in any case slow down the destruction. But much of what was found was lost. In particular, the beautiful frescoes in the House of Ceres, though reminiscent of their own, were magnificence, but they faded dramatically and in some places simply collapsed.
The corridor (a), which leads from the north side of Via di
Castrizio, is now blocked by a concrete copy of a wooden door that
once stood here. The door itself was rotten, but the empty void
remained. Archaeologists poured cement and got a copy of the door.
The walls of the corridor are decorated with frescoes of the second
style with white panels with frames. A rectangular corridor opens
directly into the square atrium - living room (b). In the center of
the atrium is an internal pool, framed by a wide mosaic pattern
consisting of a geometric pattern in black and white. On the north
side of the imluvium basin is a marble bowl. The walls of the atrium
retain several areas of plaster, bearing fragments of an early
second style. Rooms are located around the three sides of the
atrium. In the southwest corner there is a small cubiculum (s). On
the walls are preserved large panels of frescoes of the second style
with architectural views, mixed with rectangular blocks of color.
The room is illuminated by a small square window, located high on
its western wall.
The cubiculum 'd' is decorated with a
mixture of frescoes of the first and second styles. The decoration
consists of large central panels of white and red color under the
upper area of the frescoes of the first style, consisting of
rectangular blocks of different colors. The room has a beautiful
white mosaic floor with one black frame. Ala (e) is completely open
to the atrium along the west side. The room is decorated with
frescoes in the second style with yellow panels framed in red,
installed behind painted Corinthian columns that extend into the
upper zone with elements of fantastic architecture. Additional light
in ale is provided by a small window mounted high in the east wall.
The room (f) on the eastern side of the atrium of the House of
Ceres is decorated with frescoes of the second style with white
panels on a red background above the bottom red frieze. The upper
zone consists of a geometric pattern of colored blocks, mostly
yellow, but with inserts of green and stripes of dark red.