In a few horrible hours, Pompeii was turned from a vibrant city into an ash-embalmed wasteland, smothered by a furious volcanic eruption in AD 79. Gabriel Zuchtriegel, an archaeologist who was appointed director general 10 months ago, likens Pompeii's rapid deterioration, starting in the 1970s, to “an airplane going down to the ground and really risking breaking” apart. “It was …
