ATRIUM

The brightness of the ATRIUM strikes you as you step from the darkness of the fauces. Sunlight streams into all corners of the room from the high COMPLUVIUM. You step closer to the IMPLUVIUM to get a full view of the atrium. You notice that the decoration of the room has been preserved from the original design. It appears to be somewhat like a museum or a showcase of an older, almost obsolete period in which the atrium was the center of the home. As you glance into the impluvium, you notice a beautiful MOSAIC under the water. Across the pool is a CANTIBULUM where a display of silver objects has been placed. In the corner, you notice a LARARIUM and decide to inspect it more closely later. At the moment, your attention has been attracted to the WALLS. Not many houses still contain decoration from the time of the Roman colony. The solid blocks of color seem foreign, so far removed from the post-earthquake decoration. From your position, you can see through the tablinium to the peristyle and you smell the aroma of flowers that is blown by the breeze. You think to yourself, "What an amazing room, so well preserved from a time that is being quickly lost in this city."