• Home
• Europe
• Italy
• Pompeii

House of the Orchard

Address: Insula 9
Area: 400 square meters
Rooms: 13

Although the House of the Orchard has its own small garden, but the name of this mansion was given thanks to the beautiful frescoes depicting the garden on the walls of the cubicle-bedroom. These decorations are characteristic of the first century AD and consist of garden scenes against a blue sky with birds, flowering shrubs, statues and fountains. The arbor is decorated with picturesque plaques displaying Egyptian motifs.

The House of the Orchard or House of the Garden stands on the south side of Via delle Abbondanza and is also known by other names including House Euplia or House of the Flower Cubicles. This is a small but elegant little house. The cement door at the entrance to the house was made when archaeologists found the emptiness left by a rotten wooden door. Also, the house could be accessed through the door of an adjacent shop. Apparently the owner of the house or owned this store or handed over to someone.

A bronze kettle was found in the House of the Orchard. Apparently it was used to heat water mixed with wine. In general, the situation in the house speaks of a wealthy, albeit modest person. The walls of the house are painted very skillfully. Here you can see many mythological motifs, including Acteon bathing, Seven against Thebes and Icarus Falls.

The House of the Orchard follows the standard Roman plans, where the guest garden or atrium is an internal garden. The walls of the corridor (a) retain some remnants of gypsum and plaster, but they are in a very weathered condition, making it impossible to determine the nature of the original mural decoration. The corridor opens into a square atrium or guest room, which has a central location - an indoor pool. The atrium (b) is in a semi-destructive state, but the walls were initially simply covered with small white plaster. The floor of the atrium consists of crushed lava, decorated with small pieces of white marble. Directly to the west of the atrium is a small room (c) with a staircase to the upper floor. However, the second floor of the House of the Orchard is almost completely demolished. The room has little space for decoration.