Orlando Science Center postpones Pompeii exhibit
The major exhibit based on the ancient city of Pompeii that was scheduled to open at Orlando Science Center next month has been postponed. “Pompeii: The Immortal City” could instead arrive as early as this fall and stay in Florida longer than originally scheduled, JoAnn Newman, president of the science center says.
It’s another adjustment caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the related shutdown of businesses and entertainment venues.
Exact dates and details are being ironed out, Newman says. At one point, “Pompeii” looked to be pushed back for an entire year.
“I think it’s going be much sooner,” Newman says, “At least I hope it is and then negotiating to keep it for a longer period of time so that we can really maximize the exhibit.”
Its original stay in Orlando was scheduled for June 6-Sept. 7. The exhibit includes 80 artifacts — including bronzes, pottery and frescos — from Pompeii, a city buried in layers of ash that erupted from Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
“Because those artifacts were so valuable and so precious, they had limited length of time being outside of the country of Italy,” Newman says. “The end of our run was when they had to go back.”
An extension must be approved by the two Italian museums who own parts of the exhibit as well as the Italian government, she says. Whenever may “Pompeii” open at Orlando Science Center, there will be timed entry and other social-distancing practices in place, Newman says.
“It’s not the type of exhibit that has a lot of hands-on interactive,” she says. “This would be, I think, a good exhibit for people to get used to perhaps being out in public. … It’s not built to be touched.”
Promotions for the “Pompeii” exhibit, which was announced in early 2019, were in gear before the shutdowns kicked in, said Jeff Stanford, vice president of marketing.
“We had so much buzz and some great plans getting ready to activate, and then COVID kind of put the kibosh on that,” he said. “It’s been a frustrating situation for us, so it’s nice that things are starting to move again.”
It has not been determined when Orlando Science Center, closed since midMarch, will reopen to the public, Newman says.
“The governor’s order said museums could open at 25 percent capacity now, but there were some caveats about the interactivity, you know, the hands-on things and so forth,” she says. “So that’s really where our caution lies.”
Some staff members have returned to the Loch Haven Park museum in preparation for its opening. There will be changes in ticketing procedures, face masks on employees and temperature checks, Newman says. She thinks that the center’s summer camp program will start, possibly in June, before the building opens to the general public again.
“Things will feel different when you do return,” she says.