There is a lot of traffic these days in well-preserved bodies, human and otherwise. They are sliced and pickled for artistic effect or uncannily dissected and plasticized, with every blood vessel visible. They have toured the world, wrapped and mummified in the manner of ancient Egypt, or have been displayed, more modestly preserved by the dry desert sands of the Silk Road. And there are many, many more mummies yet to come.

Why this onslaught of the almost-living dead in museums? Are we latter-day Ezekiels seeking prophetic messages from ancient skeletal remnants? Has the technology used to prepare the dead for world travel suddenly advanced? Or has the need for income by the overseers of mummies suddenly increased?

Perhaps all are true. But “Pompeii the Exhibit: Life and Death in the Shadow of Vesuvius,” which opens on Friday at Discovery Times Square, is unusual because its dead bodies are not really dead, and they are not really bodies. They are, however, often more affecting, and they form the fulcrum of an absorbing show about a place more widely heard of than thoroughly understood.

The bodies are made of white plaster, and their rough surfaces allow only vague outlines. But, like death masks, they capture a moment when their subjects ceased to be. A man sits crouched, his legs pulled up to his chest, covering his face, as if in despair. A girl desperately thrusts herself at her mother, grasping for comfort. A man, prostrate, begins to pull himself up a staircase but can go no farther. These bodies are writhing, groping, reaching, protecting. And their white forms are starkly displayed on black platforms in a dimly lighted gallery, looking like otherworldly figures enduring infernal agonies.

Currently on exhibit at the Times Square Discovery Center is Pompeii: Life and Death in the Shadow of Vesuvius. I've already been to see this, and it's both informative and very moving. In addition to artifacts on display that were discovered in the ruins, there is a separate room that contains the plaster casts of those who died in the catastrophe. These casts are all that remain of people and animals that were caught in the disaster, preserving their final struggles to survive as the ash covered them and heat and poisonous gases overcame them.

*Midi's mouth waters at the thought*

Where the hell is that transporter when you need it! I need to move to NY.

After its run ends in New York in September, I hear that the exhibit will be moving on to Boston. I'm not sure how many cities it will go to after that, but maybe it'll come to a city in Florida. I hope so -- and I hope a lot of us here get to see this.

NSFW Pompeiian artwork from the exhibit

-- Nephele

I hope it would come to Jacksonville. I will keep my eye out for it. If it comes here it would probably be at the Cummer's Museum. They did an Egyptian exhibit once that was very fascinating.

I suppose the next best thing from seeing it in a museum would be to go to Italy. Then I could say hey to Cassie and be in heaven!

Of course then I would have to go on a tour which would not end until I got to see Stone Henge, Whitby, The Tower of London, and Ireland.

I think that's a very unfortunate name for a museum in light of the subject of the fresco.

Heheheh! Grand Tour of Europe!

C'mon Midi - it's got to be done...