How long did pompeii remain buried for?

Answer 1

The eruption of Pompeii lasted at least a day, piling the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum with four tons of volcanic ash, pumice, and rock and damaging the nearby cities of Olponti and Stabiae.

Answer 2

On August 20, A.D. 79,Pompeii was buried beneath an avalanche of volcanic mud and ash from the bowels of Mount Vesuvius.The onslaught of material from the mountain's belly pushed along a surge of scorching air which upon arrival instantly baked the remaining inhabitants of the doomed city alive.

Gradually the events of that fateful day became lost to the memory of man and Pompeii lay entombed beneath the mud for centuries.Sometime during the last few years of the 1500s a man named Domenico Fontana,while digging an underground channel through the area to divert the river Sarno accidently rediscovered the ancient city.No further excavations were done however until the middle of the 18th century by an engineer by the name of Rocco Gioacchino de Alcubiere.

All told Pompeii lay buried for close to 17 centuries.