The Roman-built House of the Harpist, located on the right bank of the Rhne, is being celebrated as an outstanding record of interior decoration and ancient architecture.
Experts have now opened their workshop to show their meticulous attempts to put together the massive puzzle of stunning and never seen frescoes found in the property, which is believed to date back over two millennia.
The frescoes of the House of the Harpist cover over 220 square metres. Photograph: Remi Benali/Rmi Bnali/INRAP
Specialists have been going through 800 cases of wall painting fragments since April. Some were taken from the walls of the building while others were found in the ruins. Although the first images have been displayed at an Arles museum temporary exhibition, experts estimate that it will take at least 2023 for all frescoes covering more than 220 metres to be reassembled.
The tiny fragments, which are barely larger than a fingernail's size, were cleaned, labelled, and placed in the cases so that they can be examined individually to determine how they fit into a larger picture. The specialists have spent 1,800 hours sorting through the pieces.
Julien Boislve from Ancient Wall Paintings Expert said that it takes about one day to complete each case. That's roughly 1,000 days. It's like working on a puzzle, except that we don't have the original model or all the pieces. This makes it very time-consuming. Although it is a difficult task, we have many high-quality pieces of decor that are rare.
The House of the Harpist was built by artisans from Italy between 70BC to 50BC around a central area with a large pool for rainwater collection.
It was thought that the site had been intentionally destroyed less than twenty years later. A new property was built on top of the ruins to preserve the artworks. Three houses were constructed on the site over time. In 2013, the first excavations were made.
Marie-Pierre Roth, an arheologist at the Arles museum, stated that the site was abandoned by this point.
Camera penetrated more than one metre below the building to reveal the House of the Harpist. It is named after a figure from the first frescoes that were reconstructed.
The walls and the amazing paintings were so fascinating. Other than paintings, we have many finds from this period. Roth said that the finds were in remarkable condition and had bright colours.
Archaeologists concentrated on two rooms in the Pompeii-era building and spent four years uncovering frescoes, collecting fragments, and focusing their efforts in what she called a difficult job.
One of the villa rooms' walls appears to have been covered in a gallery featuring large figures including the harpist, pedestals and other prominent figures.
Experts believe that the megalography (large-scale images of large-sized figures) and decoration were discovered in Italy, but not in France. The extraordinary quality and variety of the decorations offer a rare insight into the decorative styles of late Romans, especially wall paintings from the late Pompeii period.
Boislve stated that he hoped that the frescoes would eventually be displayed in a reconstruction of Roman rooms for a permanent exhibition at Arles Museum.
These things are often hung on walls, but we hope that these extraordinary paintings, which are examples interior decoration, will be displayed in their architectural context.
