Stunning frescoes depicting peacocks,writhing snakes and a wild boar being hunted by dogs have been discovered in Pompeii, 2,000 years after the Roman city was buried by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius.

The colourful frescoes were discovered in a villa dubbed “The House of the Enchanted Garden” for the variety of animals and plants that decorate its walls, which was partially excavated in the 19th century.

But the frescoed room had remained undiscovered until now.

The blood-red paint that adorns the walls is almost as lustrous as before the villa was smothered in volcanic ash and pumice in AD 79.

Archeologists found an altar in a niche in one of the walls, guarded by two serpents to ward off evil spirits and demons.

“It is a marvelous and enigmatic space,” said Massimo Osanna, the director of the archeological site. “It will need to be studied in great detail.”

The frescoes include the figure of a horse, birds in flight and a strange human figure with a dog’s head.