Buried and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, the ancient Roman town of Pompeii, with its 11,000 people has provided an object of great historical interest ever since it was rediscovered in 1599.

The ash-preserved ruins of Pompeii have provided historians with a window into just what life in that time and place was like.

A Day in Pompeii, an exhibition held at the Melbourne Museum in 2009, gave its more than 330,000 visitors a chance to experience Pompeii’s life even more vividly. The exhibition included the riveting animation below.

Credit: Zero One Animation