The House of the Library forms part of the residential complex in the Insula Occidentalis, built on Pompeii’s western slope to exploit the change in level across the ancient fortifications and the panoramic setting overlooking the Bay of Naples.
The house was first excavated in 1759 and explored again in the 20th century. Its modern name was coined by the scholar Volker Michael Strocka, who interpreted one room as a library. A refined painting on its wall shows an ivy-crowned figure accompanied by objects associated with poetry and books, probably the Greek poet Philoxenus of Cythera.
The residence extended down the slope and included rooms and terraces looking out over the landscape. Its decoration preserves important examples of the Second Style, while investigations have identified numerous repairs made after the earthquakes that struck Pompeii before the eruption.
Recent excavations uncovered exceptional evidence for the work of ancient decorators. Beside a room still being refurbished, archaeologists found a stone disc used as a base for preparing pigments, fragments of glass paste intended for the production of so-called Egyptian blue, and a metal container holding a small crucible. The objects appear to have been abandoned suddenly while restoration was still in progress.
The house was also damaged in the bombing of 1943 and was later partly reburied. It is now included in the major project to secure and conserve the urban villas of the Insula Occidentalis.
