The British museum is currently holding an exhibition that shows the marvels of the ancient cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, that were famously buried under pumice and volcanic ash in 79 AD. The new exhibition will give museum patron a unique chance to see the few remains surviving from the extraordinary tragedy when it runs from Thursday 28 March until September 29.

The display, which is sponsored by Goldman Sachs, hopes to draw in a generation of young historians who might not yet have heard of the disaster-struck ancient town of Pompeii, as well as giving further insight to those who know only a brief summary of the tragic events that fell on it before it was terrorised by Mount Vesuvius. The town was exposed to extreme heat almost immediately and many never made it out alive, but many of those who didn't make it out have been preserved by the copious amounts of ash from the scene, their bodies encased in the remnants of one of Europe's most severe natural disasters ever.

Whilst the events and the name of Pompeii are rather common in our collective knowledge, the town of Herculaneum, south of modern day Naples, to give a different version of events for a town that suffered from the fallout at Vesuvius, but avoided the rivers of lava that billowed from it. What really makes this exhibition interesting though is not morbid fascination, but that many of the artefacts recovered from both sites have never been seen before until now, and here is an opportunity to finally get a feel of how everyday life may have been in Southern Italy in the first century AD.

The exhibition is only on for a limited time and is so much more than glass cases with bodies that have been preserved by the carbonising effects of deep-heat. For anyone visiting London between the end of the week and the end of September, this is a must!

An introductary video for the exhibition from the British Museum.