By Kat Wong in Canberra

In an instant, Pompeii was both destroyed and preserved.

Loaves of bread were carbonised, ceramic cookware was left charred, the city’s residents were immortalised in the volcanic ash of Mount Vesuvius.

And in December, the remnants of this two-millennia-old disaster will go on display at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra.

Metres-long frescoes, digital projections and a 360-degree recreation of the eruption will play every 15 minutes to help paint a portrait of Pompeii on that fateful day in 79 CE.

But to National Museum curator Lily Withycombe, some of the best parts of the exhibit are the everyday objects.

Bread, a pair of tweezers, an inscribed ring, a set of dice all show the people of Pompeii lived ordinary lives, even though they are only remembered for their tragic deaths.

“There’s all these objects that have this real, tangible link between us and them,” Dr Withycombe told AAP.

“This was a real event, an incredibly destructive event in the lives of these people, which was extraordinary in the sense that it is compelling and confronting, but it both destroys and it also preserves.

“That just goes straight to the heart of the paradox of Pompeii.”

The volcanic eruption is best known for capturing its victims’ last moments in stone, and replica casts of their bodies will also go on display in Canberra.

Exhibits involving dead bodies, such as mummified Egyptian remains and the humorous presentation of those who died in Pompeii, have garnered controversy in recent years.

But unlike Italian exhibits which openly show remains, the National Museum of Australia will place the materials in a discrete and contemplative space, where visitors must make an active choice to enter.

“These plaster casts are such a unique archaeological story of Pompeii,” Dr Withycombe said.

“It brings the audience back to the fact that this is very real, it’s very compelling, it’s very moving and it brings a sense of respect and awe and deep connection.

“We don’t just want to think of people as victims, we want to think of this rich ongoing reverberation of life.”

The exhibit will also nod to the contemporary story of Pompeii’s excavation.

Some featured artefacts were unearthed as recently as 2018, while others come from iconic sites like the House of Leda and the Swan and the House of Orion – both known for well-preserved mosaics of myths.

Pompeii will open on December 13.