Man, this Pompeii statues question popped into my head last night while I was scrolling ancient ruins stuff online. Thought, “Hey, why not actually track down where those famous ones live now?” Grabbed my coffee this morning, fired up the dusty old laptop, and just started digging.
The Starting Point: Pure Confusion
First searches were a total mess. Kept seeing “Pompeii statues” everywhere, but pictures looked different! Got suspicious. Realized, “Hold up, are these even in Pompeii anymore?” Duh. Museums gotta be involved. Switched gears hard – aimed to find out who snatched ’em up after the excavations.
The Deep Dive: Hunting Museum Listings
Started scouring official museum websites like a madman. Knew Naples was a big player – National Archaeological Museum Naples (MANN) kept popping up. Spent ages clicking through their damn online collections section. Filters were my friend: “Origin: Pompeii”, “Type: Sculpture”. Score! Apollo the Archer was right there, chillaxin’ in their gallery. Found Doryphoros (that super famous spear-carrier dude) listed too. Also saw a bunch of smaller household gods and emperors.
But wait. Where’s Venus? She’s iconic Pompeii! MANN didn’t have her. Grumbled, sipped cold coffee, checked again. Nope. Switched tactics. Searched “Venus Pompeii statue current location”. Boom! Turns out she’s actually back at Pompeii, right near the House where she was dug up! Felt dumb for assuming she was shipped off. Lesson learned: always double-check.
Few more popped up:
- Drunken Faun: Was expecting him somewhere grand. Nope. Found him listed at the small museum right inside Pompeii itself (Antiquarium), near the forum.
- Leda & the Swan: This one took some work. Kept seeing it referenced as famous, but zero location mentioned. Finally found a random forum post hinting, then cross-checked museum archives. Seems it ended up at the British Museum. Classic move.
- That infamous Pan & Goat statue: Seriously, the internet made me blush. Museum databases played coy. Took a wild guess based on academic papers mentioning “secret cabinet”. Yep. Confirmed: MANN’s Gabinetto Segreto. Locked away for the easily offended.
The On-Site Check (Well, Via Camera)
Didn’t stop at websites. Found tourist walkthrough videos on platforms. Scanned crowdsourced photo sites too. Needed visual proof. Spotted Apollo in Naples in tons of shots – recognizable pose. Zoomed into pics labeled “House of the Vettii Pompeii”. Sure enough, Venus in her garden niche looking regal. Saw the Faun statue case in Pompeii’s museum section. Real-world snaps sealed the deal.
The Final Tally (My Head Hurts)
Here’s where the big names seem to be camping:
- Naples Archaeological Museum (MANN): Apollo (Lyre Player Apollo), Doryphoros, that Pan statue (locked up!), tons of busts and smaller bronzes. Basically the statue warehouse.
- Pompeii Excavations Themselves: Venus (House of the Vettii garden), Drunken Faun (in the Antiquarium museum on-site). Got some roots still in the ground.
- British Museum: Leda & the Swan (the one I had to hunt hardest for).
- Random Others?: Pretty sure I saw one of the runners in a picture labeled ‘Palazzo Massimo Rome’, but my notes are scribbles and I don’t fully trust it. Let’s call that “maybe”.
Honestly, felt like herding cats. Some are exactly where you think (MANN), others snuck back home (Venus!), one sailed off to England (Leda), and the naughty ones are locked up (Pan). Exhausting but kinda satisfying to actually pin them down! Would NOT want to be the intern logging all these centuries ago.
