Experts believe a newly discovered 8-square metre room in Pompeii may have served as a shrine or space for rituals and storing sacred objects.

The room, with its rare blue-painted walls, features female figures symbolizing the four seasons and allegories of agriculture and pastoralism.

The site also contained construction materials, a pile of oyster shells likely used in plaster mixes, fifteen transport amphorae, and a bronze set with jugs and oil lamps.

This discovery is part of a larger project to secure over 13,000 rooms in Pompeii, Euronews reported.

Italy’s Minister of Culture, Gennaro Sangiuliano, praised Pompeii’s continual surprises, noting that earlier this year, archaeologists uncovered a banquet hall with frescoes of mythological scenes from the Trojan War, marking one of the most remarkable finds at the site.

Written by B.C. Begley