The Last Days of Pompeii

Creative writing submission from the Rest Less community – submit your entry here.

We all know how difficult it is to get teenagers not only out of bed but also ready and waiting to go somewhere.

The fact that my grandchildren William and Victoria were not only out of bed, but dressed, hair combed, phones in pocket and sitting waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to take them out, meant that today’s visit to The Last Days of Pompeii: The Immersive Exhibition was something they’d been looking forward to.

And so we set off for the ExCeL Centre. Despite working in London for many years, I’d never actually been there. It was no surprise that after hopping off the Elizabeth Line and following directions, the six of us (Mum and Dad, Grandmum and Grandad, and William and Victoria) turned left into the vast hall that’s populated with coffee shops, water fountains and various other exhibitions, before concluding that we should have actually kept on walking down to the waterfront! 

Galloping back (thanks, Miranda), we arrived at the entrance, out of breath and hoping we hadn’t missed our slot. Luckily, we hadn’t, and whilst we went through security checks, we composed ourselves and followed the other visitors inside. 

As we wandered into the first room, there were fascinating exhibit cases, history boards and all the background information you would ever need. Then we arrived at the casts: reproductions of important residents of Pompeii, shown in the very positions they were found in and poignantly preserved by the calcified ash. You get a haunting glimpse of Pompeii’s last moments, frozen forever in time. 

We then took our seats (plush swivelling stools) for the first virtual reality experience, where we entered the amphitheatre on the back of a chariot, then onto gladiators fighting, until a life-sized tiger appeared. I thought it was going to jump onto my lap and scare me witless! Phew! Calming down and ending with an amazing naumachia (a sea battle).

And then we became tourists as we wandered down the old cobbled Pompeii streets as they would have been before the eruption. It was so realistic that I was sorely tempted to dive into one of the many shops for a little retail therapy. 

Following that, there were lots of “explorer areas” including a graffiti station, an interactive map, and interactive objects. Here, you could also go treasure hunting to discover fragments of Pompeii’s past, hidden under layers of virtual sand. 

Since both William and Vic had covered Pompeii in depth at school, they hurried us past the crowds and into the Metaverse area, where we donned our headsets and explored the Villa of Mysteries. Headsets on, we appeared as Pompeii residents. 

Malcolm and I held hands and bumped into all manner of things we should have walked past! It felt so peculiar walking through walls as we explored the gardens and atrium, the cloisters and baths. As we wandered through ruined houses, it was unbelievable how they transformed into the way they looked before the volcano hit. It made me realise how incredibly advanced the Roman Empire was.

And then we left via the shop. I so wanted to stop and browse, but both kids dragged me outside. Luckily, my husband had bought a brochure on the way in, and it’s crammed with information. Pompeii has won a “Best Historical Exhibition” award from National Geographic, which is so well deserved.

Virtual Reality and Metaverse Exhibitions are obviously the Madame Tussauds of the future, and I can’t wait to see what all these talented designers, animators and marketing folk come up with next. The French Revolution? The Battle of Waterloo? The world is their oyster, and what a wonderful day out we all had. 

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