The underground cellars and passages of the House of Cryptoporticus were used for wine storage. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, 18 women and children took refuge here. These people, like others in Pompei, were buried alive. Plaster casts were made of the void left by their bodies and the casts can be seen in the crypt. The garden contains a basin and six columns belonging to a pavilion. The body of a man, thought to be the owner of this house, holding a key and with a slave beside him carrying valuables, was discovered near the garden door.
