View all buildings and places on the map
The House of Championnet occupies the south-western sector of Regio VIII, in a panoramic position on the ancient edge of the city. One of Pompeii’s most sumptuous residences, it extended across several levels descending towards the plain and the sea.
The complex developed through the gradual transformation and combination of several residential units. Researchers distinguish a House of Championnet I, entered at civic number 1, and a House of Championnet II, whose principal nucleus was accessible from civic number 3 and which incorporated the spaces corresponding to civic numbers 4 and 5 during the 1st century AD.
One of the most prestigious rooms was the tetrastyle atrium, with four columns and refined polychrome and geometric mosaic floors. Many rooms retained black-and-white mosaics and wall paintings belonging to different phases in the house’s history.
The lower levels also contained a private bath suite, already in use during the late Republican period between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Baths within the residence attest to the exceptionally high social standing of its owners.
The position on the slope made it possible to extend the house gradually beyond the former line of the city walls, which had by then lost their original defensive function. Its terraces and rooms at different levels must have commanded broad views over the surrounding landscape.
The house’s rich paintings attracted considerable interest from the time of the earliest excavations, conducted between the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and were recorded in numerous contemporary drawings.