House of the Wooden Partition

Herculaneum is an amazing, well-preserved archaeological site near the famous Pompeii, another victim of the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79. One of its most impressive remains can be found in an ancient house nicknamed Casa del Tramezzo di Legno, or House of the Wooden Partitions.

The eponymous partitions are wooden sliding doors carbonized by the eruption, which once divided the atrium and the tablinum. Its preservation goes well beyond the form and—though visitors are not encouraged to try—they can still open and close just as they once did two thousand years ago.

Originally built during the pre-Roman period, around the 1st century B.C., the house underwent major renovation work in the Julio-Claudian era, when its peristyle was constructed and frescoes repainted. When Mount Vesuvius erupted, it was buried under a blanket of volcanic mud and stayed dormant for centuries until Amedeo Maiuri and his team excavated the site between 1927 and 1933.