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On the southern side of the Forum stand three large rooms traditionally identified as the Municipal Buildings, which housed the city’s principal administrative activities.
The three halls are generally interpreted as the respective offices of the aediles, the Tabularium, or public archive, and the duoviri, the city’s highest-ranking magistrates. The rooms were separated by narrow passages and opened onto the Forum’s southern portico.
The Tabularium was especially important. According to the traditional interpretation, it held documents and records belonging to the Pompeian administration. Its structure was also separated from the adjoining buildings to reduce the risk of fire reaching the archive.
Together with the nearby Comitium and Basilica, these buildings formed the principal area devoted to the city’s administrative, political and judicial affairs.