House of the Faun, Pompeii

Via Villa dei Misteri, 2, Pompei, NA 80045

The grand opulence of the House of the Faun, Pompeii

House of the Faun

The buried city of Pompeii is home to many grand structures: amphitheatres, colonnades, temples, villas, with each structure representing a fascinating aspect of Roman life in the doomed city. Whether you’re meandering the Forum, where political decisions were made, or gazing upon the lifelike mosaics of the Villa Dei Misteri, Pompeii provides a frozen snapshot into what life was like there before its tragic burial in AD 79.

Perhaps the most illustrious and easily the most opulent of all of Pompeii’s buildings is the House of the Faun, a giant private residence taking up a whole city block. Once owned by an elite Pompeii family, the house is renowned for its opulent design and sheer magnitude, with an interior of roughly 3,000 square metres!

The most visited of Pompeii’s ancient structures, visitors marvel at the well-preserved mosaics that dot the massive home’s floorways as well as the eponymous dancing faun sculpture which served as an entry-piece to the house itself.

The House of the Faun is seriously impressive: not only does it provide a snapshot into the lives of some of the city’s most elite residents, but it also offers a vision into the region’s history, at a time where land ownership was precarious as was the power of an empire.

The House of the Faun cannot be passed by on a visit to Pompeii, and is a magnificent structure to view alongside these other ancient structures…

  • The strange & fascinating Villa dei Misteri

    The Villa dei Misteri is perhaps the most well-preserved ruin in Pompeii: a bizarre and fascinating building that appears to have served as a home dedicated to the prohibited cult of Dionysus. What makes this residence so strange is the clarity of its frescoes, which appear to depict a woman being initiated into the forbidden cult. Whether it’s getting an up close look at these strange artworks, or wandering the home’s impressive halls and gardens, the Villa dei Misteri is as lavish as it is unsettling.

  • The grand Pompeii Spectacula

    One of the oldest surviving Roman amphitheatres in all of its empire, the gigantic Pompeii Spectacula was able to seat 20,000 spectators enraptured by the games that took place there!

  • The crumbling ornateness of the thermal baths

    Roman baths served as an important meeting place for civilians of all social classes, and Pompeii’s are some of the most elaborately decorated from the period. It’s an impressive feature that doubles as some of the most well-reserved baths of the Roman Empire.

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