...

Two more ancient walls collapse in Pompeii

Other News Materials 1 December 2010 16:50 (UTC +04:00)
Two small walls crumbled on Tuesday in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, a day after a similar collapse at the 2,000-year-old archaeological site.
Two more ancient walls collapse in Pompeii

Two small walls crumbled on Tuesday in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, a day after a similar collapse at the 2,000-year-old archaeological site, DPA reported.

Experts were examining the extent of the damage at the site, which had been cordoned off, Pompeii Mayor Claudio D'Alessio told the ANSA news agency.

Both walls - one in a house, the other forming the partition between two buildings - were ancient, but featured no frescoes, D'Alessio said.

Pompeii's archaeological authorities said the walls collapsed Wednesday morning as a result of heavy rains over the past several days.

On Tuesday, a stretch of garden wall ringing a house also gave way.

In November, a frescoed house, where gladiators prepared for combat, the Schola Armaturarum, collapsed.

Pompeii was destroyed in 79 AD by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius that killed thousands of people and buried the city in six metres of volcanic ash.

Italy's Culture Minister Sandro Bondi has faced calls for his resignation from the centre-left opposition, which charges that some of the country's most precious archaeological sites, including Pompeii, are in a state of neglect due to government spending cuts.

Bondi has said the main problem is not a shortage of funds but "bad management" of some of the sites.

Latest

Latest