Naples, Duomo Station, floor mosaics of the Roman age
Date
Thursday June 9th, 2016
DATA SHEET
DATING:
from IV century. B.C. to IV century A.C.
LOCATION:
Naples, Nicola Amore Square
CUSTOMER:
SUDMETRO scarl
WORK MANAGEMENT:
Eng. Filippo Cavuoto
HIGH SURVEILLANCE:
Archaeological Superintendency of Naples and Pompeii – Dr. Daniela Giampaola
Scientific consultaion to the project of removal of the Temple and installation in the station, Arch. Gisella Capponi (I.S.C.R.), Arch. China Conforto (Archaeological Superintendency of Rome)
PERIOD OF THE INTERVENTION:
2004 – intervention on the mosaic in opus signinum di IVcentury A.C.
2005 – intervention on the mosaic in opus tessellatum di IV century A.C.
2006 – intervention on the mosaic in opus tessellatum di II century A.C.
THE PROBLEM
To enable the realization of the Duomo station it was necessary to temporarily remove the podium of a Roman temple found during excavations. The temple besides preserving the marble decorations, albeit in the collapse, had also floor mosaics both inside that outside, in the ambulatory. These have all been subject of pre-consolidation interventions and detachment.
THE METHOD
The intervention was carried out on more mosaics related to different ages and techniques of execution.
The largest project involved a floor mosaic in opus tessellatum of the fourth century A.D. located in the external ambulatory of the podium of a Roman temple. The mosaic developed an area of about 200 square meters.
The tessellatum consists of tiles cutted from re-use marbles which measure is about 3 cm per side. The tiles are mostly of white marble but there is a good presence of colored marbles.
The detachment was carried out by dividing the mosaic into sections maintaining, when possible, the preparation of the screed. In order to preserve the screed has often been made the detachment from the substrate with cuts made with chainsaws.
