The house of Julius Polybius in Pompeii

The house of Julius Polybius in Pompeii has come to life again thanks to a long and elaborate process of visual restoration achieved by Altair 4 Multimedia on request of the University of Tokyo, specifically of Prof. Masanori Aoyagi. To obtain the elaboration was performed on tens of affrescos, a virtual reconstruction of all the house was also performed, and the dynamics of the eruption and its impact on the house were enhanced. The complex reconstruction work has been illustrated with a tridimensional technique which leads the spectator to the discovery of the rooms of the house, in all their details, including the exact position of every day objects, precisely as they were found. The aim of the film is to give the visitor back a house that is still “alive”, just a minute before the catastrophe, and to illustrate its destruction and rediscovery. This narration can, therefore, be considered exemplary for the entire ancient town.
Some rare historical pictures showing the house at the moment of its rediscovery, have been superimposed and then taken away from the corresponding virtual images: this leap in time allows for the understanding and confronting of what has really remained of the house and what has been virtually reconstructed.