2,000-year-old Roman mosaic turned into old tea table

A precious archaeological treasure that once belonged to Italian aristocrats was almost forgotten after being used as a tea table in a house for nearly 50 years.

In a 2017 interview with the press, Helen Fioratti said that she and her husband bought the approximately 2,000-year-old Roman mosaic from an Italian aristocratic family in the 1960s. When they moved to New York, they took it with them and turned it into a coffee table. Photo: Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images.

Helen and her husband used the tea table for 45 years without knowing it was an extremely valuable ancient artifact. Photo: Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism.

Dario Del Bufalo, an Italian expert on ancient stone and marble, discovered the true value of a lost Roman mosaic that Helen's family used as a coffee table without knowing the true value of the artifact. Photo: Ernesto Ruscio / Getty Images.

After the truth was revealed, experts undertook a lengthy restoration process to restore the Roman mosaic to its original beauty, including removing stains caused by tea and coffee. Photo: thevintagenews.

The National Museum of Italy says the mosaic is made from many rare gemstones. This is part of the "pleasure ship" that the Roman emperor Caligula once owned. It is known that the mosaic is made from many purple and red stones - items that this emperor spent a lot of resources to import from abroad. Photo: Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The mosaic comes from the “Nemi ship”. The ship sank in Lake Albania more than 1,900 years ago and was excavated in 1929. In addition, experts found a small Roman ship built to worship the goddess Diana. Photo: Pippo-b CC BY-SA 3.0.

During World War II, the museum where the artifacts were kept was looted and burned by the Nazis in 1944. This incident resulted in the two wooden ships being completely burned, while the mosaic, which was made of stone, remained relatively intact. However, since 1955, this precious artifact gradually fell into oblivion and was lost before being found at Helen's home. Photo: Manhattan District Attorney.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/tranh-kham-la-ma-2000-nam-bi-bi-bien-thanh-ban-tra-cu-post1552839.html