Herculanum is a part of the 1990 program “Type before Gutenberg”, which included the work of twelve contemporary font designers and represented styles from across the ages. Herculanum is a work of Swiss typeface designer Adrian Frutiger. It takes its name from the city of Herculaneum, an ancient Roman resort town destroyed by volcanic pyroclastic flows from Mt Vesuvius in 79 AD (the same eruption that destroyed the nearby city of Pompeii). Herculaneum's ruins are located today in the commune of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Ancient Roman writings of the 1st century influenced the font's design. Herculanum is distinguished by its broad characters with narrow strokes and its willful character.