An unusual find has been made at a home in Herzele (East Flanders). A marble stone nearly 2,000 years old has been bricked into the wall of a house for more than 50 years. Years ago, during a trip to Pompeii, the owner of the house had bought the item as a souvenir.
The story begins in the Seventies. Still a child, Geert Detemmerman travelled with his family to Italy. After a visit to Pompeii, Geert's father is approached by a man who wants to sell him a souvenir. The father accepts the proposal and for a considerable amount buys a piece of marble. The seller quickly runs off and, suspecting nothing, the Detemmerman Family takes the item back to Belgium.
Back home, the family decides to cement the souvenir into a wall in their house. There it has been hanging for more than 50 years, without anyone paying all that much attention to it. That is, until the house was put up for sale earlier this year. Geert's father, who is now 85, is moving to an apartment, and out of curiosity Geert decided to check whether the marble iwas worth anything.
Experts at the scene
Geert contacts the Gallo-Roman Museum in Tongeren (Limburg). "The museum sent two staff members to have a look, and they couldn’t believe their eyes" explains Geert.
What did they discover? The piece of marble that had been in the wall all these years is in fact an historical artefact from the Pompeii archaeological site and almost 2,000 years old. Moreover, the item disappeared without a trace over 50 years ago and experts from Pompeii have been looking for it ever since.
What was known about the marble?
"A fair amount is known about how the item was stolen at the time," says Bart Demarsin of the Gallo-Roman Museum. He is one of the people who went to see the stone in Herzele and has no doubt that the piece is real: "It closely corresponds to the original piece that we recognise from the photos".
The marble stone in question features a scene from the Pompeii earthquake in CE 62. "That piece corresponds to a similar piece, which also depicts buildings that collapsed during that earthquake," Demarsin adds. The pieces originally came from the home of a wealthy Roman banker in the centre of Pompeii.
Both pieces were removed from the residence and had been on display at the site for a long time. Today the first piece is still on display in Pompeii's museum, the other was stolen in the 1970s, and has now turned up in the house in Herzele.
Compensation for good care
Immediately after the discovery was made, judicial police arrived on Geert's doorstep to investigate how the piece got here. The director of the archaeological park in Pompeii was also informed. Demarsin expects a delegation from Pompeii will soon travel to Belgium to see the piece with their own eyes and confirm whether it is indeed the original marble stone.
After that, the piece will probably return to Pompeii, where it belongs, Bart Demarsin says. The Detemmerman Family is hoping for financial compensation because they kept the piece safely for such a long period of time. "The judicial police told us we might still be able to get compensation, because after all, the piece hung here for 50 years without anything happening to it. It could so easily have been sold on or broken."