Various reconstruction activities have taken place since the first buildings were cleared at Pompeii. Some of the properties have been completely rebuilt, especially following the devastation of the Allied bombing attack in 1943 and the earthquake in 1980. Apart from the many walls that have been rebuilt, patched up, and replastered, several of the structural installations have been restored with varying faithfulness. Of most consequence to this study is the reconstruction of the bar counters. In total, 116 (73%) of the counters have been restored to some degree by the muratore (masons) of the Soprintendenza archeologica di Pompei. The restoration of counters continues a long tradition of emphasis on the public presentation of the Pompeian material record. Efforts at restoration are documented as early as 1780, when workers were ordered to replaster parts of the counter at VI.2.5 (PAH I.1, 311-12 - 13 July 1780). Scraps of marble used to reconstruct many counters are not certain, or even likely, to have come from the original structures. Niccolò Venuti recorded the removal of marble cladding from the service counters at Herculaneum as early as 1740 (Venuti 1750, 111).
The faithfulness of these reconstructions to the original counters is therefore uncertain. Some counters were only slightly repaired, while others were wholly rebuilt. The excavation reports reveal that, of all the rebuilt counters one sees today, each was built where a counter had originally existed; none were built as a flight of fancy by the muratore. With regard to the overall shape and size of the structure, again a check of the early records suggests that in all cases the counters appear to have been restored as faithfully to the original as possible. Some variations in shape or size are noted, but in any case, it is doubtlessly insignificant if the muratore erred in one way or the other by as much as 100 or 200mm. What is more important than absolute accuracy is the more general sense of size and type of counter, or how much and what part of the room the counter occupied. If we can judge that the muratore rebuilt counters that were as faithful as possible to the original, a practice that continues in reconstructions of the site today, then the recognition of patterns in their types is not jeopardised beyond reason.
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Last updated: Mon Jun 30 2008