This shop scene gives users the experience of walking down a stretch of the via dell’ Abbondanza, one of Pompeii’s busiest thoroughfares, and browsing goods in a Roman textile shop. Currently, this shop scene is used as our location for our functionality and usability tests. It has been used in multiple classrooms and is currently being testing in a Latin learning simulation. If you are interested in seeing or using this scene, reach out to us through our About Us page.

Shop Historical Information: 

The shop front was decorated with a scene depicting the felt making process. At the end of the scene, the shop owner Verecundus proudly displays a finished toga praetexta.

Although the shop was not completely excavated, a shop scene on the façade may offer some insight into how the interior space may have been organized. The fresco shows a female shopkeeper sitting behind a wooden shop counter, holding up slippers for the customer to inspect. The customer sits on an ornate wooden bench with his arm stretched out in a gesture of negotiation. In front of the shopkeeper, a second wooden table draped with a fine blue table cloth contains a neatly organized display of felt slippers and folded piles of clothing, including examples of the toga praetexta. An open cabinet behind the shopkeeper displays more wares.

The shop front is also decorated with religious imagery. A fresco depicting Mercury, the patron god of trade and commerce, and a processional scene of Venus Pompeiana, the patron deity of Pompeii.

See also the shop's Pompeii in Pictures entry here

Currently in development is a new location that will allow users to explore competing fish shops located off the busy Bivio del Castrum intersection in Ostia in the 3rd century CE. We gathered photogrammetry data in 2022 and have used it in digital humanities courses multiple times to teach students technological workflows. The Taberne dei Pescivendoli (IV.V.1) connected to the macellum (IV.V.2) and the shop inside the Caseggiato del Mosaico del Porto (I.XIV.2) were both decorated with black and white marine mosaics and contained marble basins for keeping live fish.

See here for more historical info