The restoration of a 2,200-year-old mosaic of a charging bull in the ancient city of Pompeii has been completed. The mosaic, which graced the floor of an inn popular with gladiators, had been worn down by the relentless trampling of tourists. The project cost €100,000, funded by a private donor.
But while the Italian culture ministry celebrates another triumph of preservation, British archaeologists are questioning whether the money could have been better spent. The mosaic, though charming, is not unique. Pompeii has dozens of such images, many in worse condition.
Meanwhile, other sites in Italy are crumbling. The Herculaneum papyrus scrolls, which could revolutionise our understanding of Roman history, are still waiting for conservation. It is a classic case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease.
Tourists want to see the bull. They do not queue up to look at carbonised papyrus. But from a return on investment perspective, the scrolls offer far greater potential for cultural and scholarly dividends.
The mosaic restoration is a vanity project, not a strategic allocation of scarce resources. It is like a company spending millions on a lobby makeover while the factory roof leaks. The markets, if they cared about Italian heritage, would punish this kind of misallocation.
But they do not. Heritage is not a traded asset. Perhaps it should be.
Then we could see whether the bull mosaic truly yields a higher social return than the scrolls. Until then, we are left with the sentimentality of tourists and the quiet fury of archaeologists who know better.
