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House of Gavius Rufus

Address: Insula 2
Area: 711 square meters
Rooms: 19

House of Gavius Rufus is located on the street of Vikolo dei Panetier, a narrow street connecting Vicolo Storto and Via Stabiana. House of Gavius Rufus was excavated in 1867 and received its name from two inscriptions located on both sides of the entrance. The facade retains the remnants of red plaster. House of Gavius Rufus has been preserved quite well. Remains of frescoes and mosaics on the floor are in the good state. Also here were found bronze statues of Apollo, Minerva and the goddess of fortune. Their quality and artistic value suggests that the house belonged to a wealthy citizen. Unfortunately, the second floor is not preserved. It collapsed during an eruption, but the ground floor remained relatively well-preserved. Bodies were not found here, so it is difficult to say what happened to the owner of the house and his household. Perhaps they managed to escape Pompeii and save themselves.

The hallway (a), which opens from the south side of the street of Vikolo dei Panetire, lost most of its decoration, and the fragments were too weathered to give a realistic description. On the east side of the hallway there is a narrow door that gives access to the room of porters (b) and beyond - the stables (c). The entrance hall opens into a rather small atrium (d) or a central living room, in the center of which is a marble basin. Like the entrance hall, the atrium lost most of its plaster, leaving only a few faded fragments.

With the exception of a small room (e) at the northwestern corner of the atrium, all other rooms in the house open into an internal garden, which could be reached through a wide doorway on the south side of the atrium. In the northeastern corner of the peristyle, there is a large bite (h). This room is better preserved than the atrium, and the remaining plaster allows an approximate description of the decoration, consisting of alternating red and yellow panels on a white background above the bottom black frieze. The room has a secondary doorway in the southwest corner connecting it to the south end of the atrium.

Along the eastern side of the peristyle there are a number of rooms, the size of which increases from north to south. Basically, these rooms are in poor condition, being semi-destructive with few remaining decorations. Of the rooms on the eastern side of the peristyle, room (i) was the best preserved. The room is decorated with frescoes in the second style in an illusory style, including painted columns on a low wall, set against a dark red background. There are remnants of a decorative floor with a geometric pattern, decorated with white marble pieces.

In the southeast corner of the peristyle there is a service area, including the kitchen (j). This area (k), apparently, was without a roof with fragments of frescoes depicting garden paintings on the walls. In the center of the south side of the peristyle there is a large half-room (l), the so-called exedra (a recess, usually semi-circular or rectangular, in the wall). The exedra is decorated with frescoes in the third style with red and yellow panels along with architectural elements above the bottom black frieze. In the center of each wall is a large mythological scene.