A collapsed painted vault from the so-called Casa con Panificio (IX 10, 1) at Pompeii has been partially reassembled, restored, and placed on a new modular display support. The official contribution of the Parco Archeologico di Pompei traces the work from recovery in room 14, the tablinum, to its presentation as an open, updatable reconstruction.
The fragments come from a frescoed vault that fell into room 14. During excavation, restorers began joining pieces by identifying physical connections between the surviving sections, so the first phase of recomposition happened alongside the archaeological work itself.
What was reconstructed
The reassembled portion represents little more than a quarter of the original composition. Its curvature was defined progressively during reassembly, rather than imposed in advance on a flat panel, allowing the support to follow the surviving vault fragments.
The decoration combines Nilotic landscapes with Dionysiac motifs, including golden sphinxes, small heads of Medusa, vegetal festoons, winged genii, and ritual objects.
The highly fragmentary central scene has been reconstructed through iconographic comparison: Dionysus reclines on a chariot while Ariadne plays the harp, and the chariot is drawn by two musical centaurs. Because so little of the central group survives intact, some details remain interpretative.
Conservation choices
The restoration combined conservation, reconstruction, structural, and display requirements. According to the Pompeii team, the work followed principles of gradual intervention, minimum intervention, recognizability of additions, and reversibility.
That cautious approach reflects the state of the evidence: many related fragments are still stored separately and have not yet been placed. The reconstruction is therefore deliberately left open, so additional pieces can be integrated in the future and the present arrangement can be revised as gaps are filled.
Why it matters
The project shows how much information can be recovered from a collapsed ceiling: not only its central mythological subject, the hierogamy of Dionysus and Ariadne, but also the decorative system around it and the physical shape of the vault. At the same time, the team is explicit about the limits. The overall configuration is not final, and future joins may change the reading of the composition.
For visitors and readers, the result is best understood as a working reconstruction rather than a completed ceiling: a substantial surviving section, stabilized and made legible, with room left for archaeology and restoration to continue.