POMPEII, Italy — Buried and hidden for nearly 2,000 years, excavations have uncovered the Holy Chamber in Pompeii, whose walls were painted blue, a rare and expensive color in a Roman city.
“This is very unusual for Pompeii,” site director Gabriel Zuchtriegel told NBC News during a tour of the newly excavated ruins. Blue was the “most expensive color” because it was difficult to make.
“They had to be imported from places like Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean, so they were expensive, and if you wanted the blue ones you had to pay more,” he said. Red, yellow and black were much easier to produce because natural materials such as stone and sand were widely available, he added.
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The surprising discovery was first revealed to NBC News on Tuesday.
It comes from block number 10 in the IX district of Pompeii, a previously unexcavated area of the city destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
The Pompeii Archaeological Park said the room, decorated with female figures representing the four seasons and paintings of agriculture and sheep farming, “has been interpreted as a sacralium, a sanctuary dedicated to ritual activities and the storage of sacred objects.” news release.
For wealthy politicians and business owners, exquisite classical paintings were the perfect display piece and conversation piece when entertaining guests.
People who paint their rooms blue are saying, “I can afford something that not everyone can afford,” Zuchtriegel said.
Archaeology major Mishael Quraishi is one of several MIT students working at the site, using specially modified night-vision goggles and handheld scanners to study the new finds.
She described the room as “stunning” and said it was truly rare to see such a large concentration of Egyptian Blue in one place.
It’s “the first synthetic pigment in the history of mankind,” said the 21-year-old Quraishi, adding that because it’s made from copper, “brass shavings are also an option.”
After combining the elements, she said, they are heated at incredibly high temperatures for hours, “after which a glass-like substance containing Egyptian blue crystals is formed.”
Sophie Hay, an archaeologist working at the site, said the fact that the frescoes were painted when the plaster was still wet meant “the pigments were trapped inside the plaster.” If they had been painted on the surface, it’s unlikely the colors would have been as vibrant, she said.
Thanks to the ancient techniques used by the Romans, “we can still enjoy it today,” she added.
Elsewhere in the 86-square-foot room, archaeologists found building materials, suggesting renovations were planned.
They also found a collection of oyster shells, likely waiting to be “crushed into small pieces and added to the plaster and mortar,” the news release said.
The excavation is part of a much larger project to help protect and preserve the excavated and unexcavated areas of Pompeii and has already included more than 13,000 rooms in 1,070 houses and apartments, making it considered the largest excavation in a generation.
Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum, favorite seaside resorts for wealthy Romans, were devastated by an eruption that lasted more than 24 hours and had the power of thousands of nuclear bombs.
Last month, a series of striking paintings depicting Helen of Troy and other Greek heroes was shown to the public for the first time in what archaeologists have described as some of the most important in years.
The remarkably well-preserved frescoes, found in what archaeologists described as a “splendid dining room” with an unusual black wall, were inspired by the Trojan War as told by Greek poet Homer and include scenes from Paris and Helen of Troy.
Zuchtriegel said at least 20 to 30 guests could have easily fit in the room for a lavish banquet and discussion of “culture, gossip and politics.”
He added that the paintings were “like an invitation to discuss Greek mythology.”
With a third of the ruins still buried underground, archaeologists are still trying to put the pieces of the Pompeii puzzle back together.
“Someone last visited this site 2,000 years ago,” says Zuchtriegel, the site’s director, “and now we are the first people to visit it again.”