New EU plan for Pompeii

[Alexand96]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17634115

Hope this plan works out. Needless to say, it would be a devastating loss to abandon this site to the elements.

Hope I get to see it soon.

[M. Caecilius]

That is one of the greatest news to come out of Pompeii for quite a while. After the collapses of the past years, I'm glad to see that despite the financial crisis, culture is not but on the back-burner and an effort is made to preserve the remains of Pompeii.

[Robert Vermaat]

Seeing is believing. Of course, had the been convinced of the touristic value one could argue that they would have acted sooner.

[M. Caecilius]

True, Robert. I wonder whether there are clearly defined goals and a set time span by which they want to put the money to good use. There are so many things that need to be done in Pompeii beyond making sure no further collapses occur - there is serious weeding to be done, frescoes simply stand around unprotected (or behind glass that looks as though it was last cleaned just after the allied air raid), and the tourists themselves occasionally climb on walls for better photographs and take souvenirs back home; but the very fact that some action was taken is a step in the right direction. So long as it's a first step, and not a way to put guilty consciences at ease and forget about it until the next damage.

[MARCvSVIBIvSMAvRINvS]

And now we wait for vesuvius to do its ugly thing........

M,VIB.M.

[M. Caecilius]

At least it will be hard to blame anyone for that!

I don't really want to think about an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, though. The region is so heavily populated that even a timely evacuation would be a catastrophe. Fortunately, Vesuvius has not given any indication that it's about to wake up, even though it's been calm for longer than its cycle should allow for, as I understand it.