Wednesday, December 1, 2010
ROME (AFP) - – A twelve metre-long wall protecting the House of the Moralist in the ancient Roman archaeological site of Pompeii collapsed on Tuesday following heavy rain, officials said.
"A wall that had already collapsed after Second World War bombings and had been rebuilt at the time, collapsed again this morning," an archaeological official at the site told AFP.
"The wall was made up of ancient stones that we will collect and reuse, just as we did last time we had to rebuild it. It didn't have any frescoes or murals on it," she added.
The wall was behind the House of the Moralist, so-called because the owner wrote rules of etiquette for his neighbours and visitors on the walls of his house including "Let water wash your feet clean" and "take care of our linens."
The wall was off-limits to the public.
Culture Minister Sandro Bondi warned against "useless alarmism" and said the situation in Pompeii was being "constantly monitored by experts."
"The collapse did not involve anything of artistic, archaeological or historical worth," he said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the frescoed House of Gladiators collapsed into rubble, sparking sharp debate over the future of Italy's cultural heritage.
Government officials denied the collapse was due to cuts in the culture budget and blamed local management problems of the site.
Once a bustling city, Pompeii was destroyed by the massive eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, but was partly excavated and attracts thousands of visitors every year to one of the best-preserved ancient sites in the world.
In July 2008 Italy declared a "state of emergency" for Pompeii, saying it had fallen into serious disrepair.
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