In this serious situation where everyone is called to do their part and the closure of museums become the contribution suffered by the world of art to slow down the spread of the coronavirus infection, the MAV, the Virtual Archaeological Museum of Herculaneum, hoping for an upcoming reopening, continues, through the web and its social channels, its mission for the enhancement of the archaeological excellence of the Vesuvio and Campania territory, showing to the big public the faithful reconstruction, many times validated scientifically, of the great beauty of the Roman cities and adobes at the slopes of Vesuvius and not only, before the devastation and tragic eruption of 79 A.D.

What is the MAV?  

The MAV is a young museum, born 12 years ago, a museum in continuous transformation whose mission is to tell the past story with a future vision.

We thought it was right to start from the origin. From the primitive element, the material one. That means : from the opposite of what the Virtual Archaeological Museum is made of.

We started from the stone! That stone that two thousand years ago was liquid and flowing towards the valley, because of the most famous eruption in history, the one told by Pliny the Younger in the letters to Tacitus, covered the Roman cities of the Vesuvian area overlooking the Gulf of Naples and among these, Herculaneum, buried by a layer of over 20 meters of liquid and incandescent mud.

Our job starts from a catastrophic and memorable event. From the materiality of the lava which became stone and then treasure and memory trove, which for three centuries has not stopped testifying a fascinating past in its discovery, as Pliny prophesied in the story of the eruption: “… we had just sat when night fell, but not when there is no moon or the sky is covered by clouds, but as if the light was off in closed spaces…” (Pliny the Younger, Second letter to Tacitus).

If we want to define the MAV, we could say that it is a place where, through technology and light, the memory of our past is restored, giving shape to the invisible, the denied, the missing: to what can no longer be seen and to what is not yet visible.

In fact, a few hundred meters from the archaeological excavations of the ancient Herculaneum, the MAV, the Virtual Archaeological Museum of Herculaneum, is a centre of culture and technology applied to the Cultural Heritage and to the communication among the most advanced in Italy, thanks to the technological magic of the latest version MAV 5.0 – Virtual multiReality, the most innovative ever which, since October 2019, has radically revolutionised the way of living the cognitive experience of the virtual travel in the life and in the splendor of the main archaeological areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Baiae, Stabia and Capri, in order to better understand the past with the vision of a travel of other times.

The MAV of Herculaneum has always been constantly looking for an intelligent measure in welcoming visitors in complete safety, to offer everyone, representing the past, an unforgettable journey through time, guided by those stimuli that the digital machine releases along the way, through technology and light.

The Virtual archaeological Museum of Herculaneum, according to the provisions of the new decree of the 3rd of November for the prevention of the spread of coronavirus infection, is closed from 5th of November until new provisions.

And while waiting for the new reopening, we invite you to visit the MAV museum via the web and to share on our social networks the many promoted initiatives, to keep the flame of knowledge always burning, in the desire to be part of that big cultural community which never forgets its past!

MAV – MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO VIRTUALE:       www.museomav.it

Via IV Novembre 44
80056 – Ercolano (NA)

Email: info@museomav.it
Tel: + 33 81/7776843 / 81/7776784 

Fax: + 33 81/7323941

MAV Press Office

Email: ufficiostampa@museomav.it

Enrico Deuringer mobile phone. 3357249830  Email: enricodeuringer@scabec.it