Restoring Roman fresco shattered into thousands of pieces

After thousands of hours of reassembling, a Roman fresco is resurrected from the rubble – revealing the lavish art of the ancient empire.

Found in an ancient Roman villa, experts have painstakingly pieced together thousands of fragments of a fresco. According to dating results, the Roman fresco is about 1,800 years old. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

“It’s like putting together the world’s most difficult jigsaw puzzle,” said Han Li, senior building materials expert at the Museum of London Archaeology. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

After 3 months of hard work, experts have completed the mural to look exactly like the original. The painting includes images of birds, fruits, flowers, lyres... In addition, some ancient graffiti drawings and the connection with the artist who created it. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

Fragments of the mural were discovered in 2021 in a large pit in the London borough of Southwark during redevelopment of the site. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

The fresco adorns 20 walls of a villa built between AD 43 and 150. The excavation team speculates that the villa was probably destroyed within 157 years of its construction, which is why the painting was damaged and shattered into thousands of pieces. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

According to experts, this giant fresco is evidence of the wealth and aesthetic taste of the homeowner. The artist who created this painting seems to have taken artistic inspiration from places influenced by the Roman Empire. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

Some parts of the fresco show rectangular panels, which were common during that period. Meanwhile, the yellow paint used for the painting was very rare. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

The Greek alphabet is painted on the painting, which looks like ancient graffiti. Because the artwork is broken, small parts of the painting are missing, so experts have not yet determined the identity of the artist. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

In ancient times, Roman artists often left their signatures in a corner of their paintings to identify themselves. Photo: MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology).

Readers are invited to watch the video : Revealing lost civilizations through archaeological remains.

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