Casa della Fontana Grande — Attraction in Pompei

The original structure of the House of the Large Fountain dates to the early 2nd century BC, but it underwent significant modifications during successive building phases. Only in the 1st century AD was the large apse-fountain - which today gives the dwelling its name - constructed against the back wall. It is decorated with mosaics ad shells, and adorned with two marble theatrical masks. At the centre of the fountain lies a cylindrical stand with a central hole, which was devoid of decorative elements when it was discovered between 1826 and 1827. Between the late 1800s and early 1900s, the fountain was modified, by positioning a bronze statue of a putto with a dolphin on the central stand. It was a copy created by the Sommer Foundry of Naples, since the original was found in 1880 in the garden of the House of the Arches (IX 7, 20) and is now kept at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. The plan proposed here restores the historic arrangement, which was perhaps conceived in a manner similar to the nearby House of the Small Fountain, at the centre of which is a statuette of a putto with a goose, and thus restores the established image of the fountain from the last century. [Tourist...

Si tratta di una fontana con nicchia sormontata da un frontoncino, internamente rivestita di un mosaico , dalla quale l'acqua sgorgava da un'apertura e fluiva attraverso una cascatella a gradini nel sottostante bacino di raccolta. La decorazione è costituita da tre maschere tragiche sporgenti dagli stipiti della nicchia e da una statuetta bronzea di un amorino con delfino posto su un basamento circolare all'interno della vasca, ora sostituito...

Recentissimamente aperta la Domus della Fontana Grande, assai vicina alla Domus della Fontana Piccola, presenta la muratura, spoglia di intonaci, della planimetria di una ricca casa. I punti salienti sono alcuni mosaici, per ora coperti ed il magnifico ninfeo in cui son presenti due grossi e pregevoli mascheroni...