An ancient beach that is believed to be the site where more than 300 people fled for safety as Mount Vesuvius erupted has reopened after a nearly 2,000-year gap. The beach at Herculaneum archaeological park, once a popular resort town for many of Rome’s patrician families, has now been restored and officially reopened to the public Wednesday after it was destroyed in 79AD. Artefacts, including human remains, were discovered in the years-long restoration effort in southern Italy. “It was not only a restoration work but also a great research work because we know that re-presenting a site, in an open-air archaeological place, also means being able to delve into scientific aspects: we carried out excavations and found remains and the passage of pyroclastic flows that hit the city in 79AD with materials of all kinds,” the director of the Herculaneum archaeological park Francesco Sirano said, according to CNN. When Vesuvius erupted, a cloud of toxic gases killed inhabitants and the city was preserved under ash and volcanic rock 50 feet deep. The site of Herculaneum, near Pompeii, was discovered during excavations in the 1980s.