Pompeii_ Sepulchre Road, No. 5066 c. 1870 - 1880

Giacomo Brogi captured this albumen print, titled "Pompeii Sepulchre Road," sometime in the mid-19th century. Brogi, an Italian photographer, documented landscapes and monuments, catering to the burgeoning interest in historical sites during a period of intense archaeological exploration. The image presents a view of the ancient road lined with tombs in Pompeii, frozen in time after the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It invites reflection on mortality, memory, and the passage of time, as it captures a space designed to honor the dead. Consider how the sepulchers represent a cross-section of Pompeian society, where the wealthy built elaborate family tombs, while the poorer citizens were often interred in communal graves. Brogi’s work enables us to ponder the lives and afterlives of a complex stratified society, immortalized in a moment of both profound tragedy and archaeological discovery. It is a landscape imbued with loss, but also with the enduring human need to remember.