It is incredible to walk the streets of a city that once was buried because of an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

In 1595, excavations discovered artifacts at Pompeii and centuries of pillaging followed. Archeological excavations began in the mid-nineteenth century. Now, much of Pompeii has been excavated and it has revealed much about how people lived during that time (and died during the eruption). There are numerous molds of people in their final moments.

Pompei is located on the Mediterranean on the west coast of Italy, in the volcanic plain of ‘Campanie’, a short distance from Naples. An ancient harbor city, Pompei was built in the second century before Christ. Recovering from an earth quake just years before, Pompei apparently was flourishing until the eruption of Vesuvius destroyed it completely on August 24, 79.

To walk the streets, to enter doorways that were once homes, to visit a theater that once gave life to a burdened existence, to see the petrified corpses and then imagine the bustle of these people in the piazza, gives one a realization of how temporary we all are.