Address: Regio I, Insula 11
Area: 180 square meters
Rooms: 8
The
house of Venus in Bikini was named for the statuette of the goddess
Venus in a bikini. The House of Venus in a bikini is located on the
south side of Via delle Abbondanza at its intersection with Vicolo
della Nave Europa. The rather simple entrance (A) is currently
closed and the house is therefore closed to visitors. It was
discovered in 1913 following the archaeological excavations promoted
by Vittorio Spinazzola: in this case, the façade was brought to
light, on which some electoral posters stood out, including one
where a certain Maximus was mentioned, from which the house took the
name. The second phase of exploration took place between 1952 and
1954 conducted by the team of Amedeo Maiuri: the house was
completely explored but there are fragmentary news on the findings
as the findings were cataloged as if it were an inventory; it was
following these investigations that the statue of Venus in a bikini
was found who gave the final name to the house. Other explorations
took place between 1955 and September 1961, but reports of the
excavation are lacking: in this period the investigations were fast
enough, thinking mostly to remove the pyroclastic material; in some
points, the volcanic material appeared to be affected, a sign of
previous tampering, before the official excavations.
The House of Venus in Bikini is sometimes
called the House of Maximus after an inscription in Latin was found
on the facade of the building: "Maximus Rog (at)". For some
archaeologists, this inscription indicates that there lived a man
with this name. However, further excavations revealed several other
names of different people. It is possible that these houses were
owned by several people and each left his name. However, another
explanation for this fact may be that the guests of the house owner
left their names on the walls of the building.
Built in the second century BC, during the first century BC the property was divided giving rise to the house in its final form. It was damaged by the earthquake of 62: restoration work began, as evidenced by the closure of a door that connected it to the nearby house of Lucius Habonius Primus and the decorations in the fourth style, but, still not completed or presumably interrupted, hypothesis supported by a graffiti found on a fresco and two broken statues, it was covered under a collection of ash and lapilli during the eruption of 79: finds of kitchen objects and skeletons suggest that the house was inhabited at the time of the eruption.
The corridor (a) in this mansion is decorated with frescoes in
the fourth style with yellow panels framed by a red frame over the
bottom black frieze. Yellow panels contain central medallions with
the image of female heads. The home decoration was unfinished and
covered in graffiti before the eruption. It is unlikely that the
building was empty at the time of the death of the city. Apparently
those who lived here rebuilt their mansion and the building was in a
state of repair. The corridor opens into a rectangular atrium or
living room (b), which has rooms on its western side and has in its
center a pool-imprium for collecting rainwater. It is decorated with
colored marble. On the south side of the central pooll there are
three masonry supports, each of which is colored yellow with a red
frame. Two shorter supports may have supported the table, while a
higher central column could be intended as a pedestal for sculpture.
The atrium was not covered with frescoes, which is rather strange
for a living room, the walls are simply covered with a layer of
coarse plaster.
In the southwest corner of the atrium,
archaeologists discovered the remains of a closet in which several
home artifacts and some personal items were found. Among the items
found was a marble statuette of Venus in a gold bikini (after which
the House in Bikini itself was named) and some gold jewelry. The
statuette may have been from a closet under the stairs in the table
(the house’s owner’s office), since the reports of archaeologists
are rather fragmentary regarding the exact location of the find.
In the northwestern corner of the atrium there is a small cubic
room (s), which, apparently, is undergoing cosmetic repairs. The
existing wall surface was prepared to cover the new plaster, but
this work did not begin during the eruption.
A small shop (d)
in the northeast corner of the building has a large entrance from
Villa del Abbondanza street and is connected to the rest of the
house by two doorways in the south wall. The westernmost doorway
leads directly to the atrium, while the eastern doorway connects to
the small room (s), which may once be scarlet outside the atrium,
but was subsequently divided. Judging by the fact that the house is
connected to the store, it says that the owner of the house owned
the store.
Room (s) was possibly a storeroom. The walls are
covered with a layer of rough plaster, and perhaps this plaster,
similar in character to the rough plaster found in the atrium, was
the main layer in preparation for the final finish. The other two
rooms occupy the rest of the eastern wall of the atrium. The
cubiculum (f) is decorated with frescoes in the fourth style with
white panels framed by a red frame over the bottom yellow decorative
frieze. The larger cubic room (g) is decorated with frescoes in the
fourth style with white panels with mythological scenes, accompanied
by figures, above the lower red frieze.
Tablin (h) is located
on the south side of the atrium, directly opposite the entrance. The
room has a wide door from the atrium, and on the south wall there is
a door and a window that opens into the back garden. The tablin is
decorated with frescoes in the fourth style with yellow panels
framed by a red frame over the bottom red frieze. Like the
decoration of the atrium, the yellow panels contain the central
medallions of the female heads, but the decoration also has a
figured panel with the image of Dionysus and Silene. In the
northwest corner, a staircase rises to the top floor.
The
walled inner garden (i) retains most of its fourth-style frescoes.
They are preserved on the southern and western walls. The decoration
consists of frescoes with garden scenes depicting trees, birds and
flowers, framed with wide yellow and red borders. On the wall in the
southeast corner of the garden is a small niche.
Triclin or
owner's office (j) is located on the east side of the garden. The
decoration of the room consists of frescoes in the fourth style and
consists of framed yellow panels on a white background with
architectural motifs and figures above the lower red decorative
frieze. The yellow panels contain small figures and a central
mythological scene. The two surviving scenes depicts goddess Artemis
with Actaeon and Paris.
The kitchen (k) could be accessed
from the garden through a narrow doorway in the east wall (now
blocked). The walls of the kitchen were covered with a layer of
simple plaster.