Villa of the Mysteries in Pompei

You're standing at the Villa of the Mysteries, a Roman villa just outside the town walls of Pompeii. It sits on a slope with a view over the Gulf of Naples, partly propped up on a row of blind arches. Like the rest of Pompeii, it was buried when Vesuvius erupted in the year 79. Yet it came through with very little damage. Its walls, its ceilings and above all its frescoes survived largely intact. Excavations began in 1909.