Italian Culture Minister Dario
Franceschini announced on Tuesday the creation of ten autonomous
museums and archaeological sites whose directors would be chosen
through international competitions.
Among the most famous sites is Pompeii's smaller and
lesser-known sister city, Herculaneum, also buried by Vesuvius
in 79 AD and preserved in its ancient splendour as a UNESCO
world heritage site.
Unlike Pompeii, the deep pyroclastic material which covered
Herculaneum preserved wooden and other organic-based objects
such as roofs, beds, doors, food and even some 300 skeletons
which were surprisingly discovered in recent years along the
seashore as it was thought until then that the town had been
evacuated by the inhabitants.
Herculaneum was a wealthier town than Pompeii, possessing
an extraordinary density of fine houses with, for example, far
more lavish use of coloured marble cladding.
The 10 new sites also include the unfairly little-known
ancient Roman Ostia Antica harbour city to the west of Rome, the
Appia park with its wealth of Roman tombs outside Rome and the
Miramare castle in Trieste, Franceschini told parliamentary
culture commissions.
The move is part of efforts by Franceschini and Premier
Matteo Renzi to revamp Italian cultural-site management.
Italy last year appointed a 'foreign legion' of non-Italian
art experts to head seven of Italy's 20 most prestigious
museums.
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