Pompeii People: The Key Figures of the City
The People Behind Pompeii
The story of Pompeii people figures is really two stories: the Romans who lived and died here in 79 AD, and the archaeologists, directors, and artists who, over nearly three centuries, dug the city out of the ash and gave it back to the world. This page is a guide to that second group — the men and women who shaped how we see Pompeii today.
When people ask who discovered Pompeii, the honest answer is that no single person did. The site was found by accident in 1748 during Bourbon-era engineering works, eighteen years after nearby Herculaneum surfaced in 1738. But the city we visit now — carefully recorded, scientifically excavated, and open to millions — is the work of a long line of pompeii archaeologists and a succession of directors who turned a royal treasure hunt into one of the world's great research projects.
Key Figures at a Glance
The table below summarises the most important people associated with the excavation and modern life of Pompeii.
| Name | Role | Era |
|---|---|---|
| Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre | Military engineer; led the earliest Bourbon digs | 1740s–1750s |
| Giuseppe Fiorelli | Director; founded scientific method and the body casts | 1860s–1870s |
| Vittorio Spinazzola | Director; uncovered the Via dell'Abbondanza | 1910s–1920s |
| Amedeo Maiuri | Long-serving director; vast excavations and study | 1924–1961 |
| Massimo Osanna | Director-General; the Great Pompeii Project | 2014–2021 |
| Gabriel Zuchtriegel | Director-General today; new excavations and access | 2021–present |
| Igor Mitoraj | Polish sculptor; monumental bronzes among the ruins | 2016–present |
Giuseppe Fiorelli: The Father of Scientific Excavation
If one person deserves credit for modern Pompeii, it is Giuseppe Fiorelli, who became director in 1863. Before him, digging was haphazard plunder aimed at finding objects for royal collections. Fiorelli imposed order. He divided the city into the regiones and insulae (regions and blocks) still used to address every building today, and he insisted on excavating downward from the top of each structure to preserve walls and frescoes in place.
His most famous innovation was the plaster casts. Fiorelli understood that the hollow spaces in the hardened ash were natural moulds of bodies that had since decayed. By pouring plaster into these cavities, he recovered the exact, anguished postures of Pompeii's victims — a technique that transformed the site from a ruin into a human tragedy made visible. To see how this method works, read about how the bodies were preserved and the wider history of the discovery.
Amedeo Maiuri: Four Decades of Excavation
No director worked Pompeii longer than Amedeo Maiuri, who held the post from 1924 to 1961 — through Fascism, world war, and post-war reconstruction. Maiuri dramatically expanded the excavated area, opening grand houses, the Villa of the Mysteries, and long stretches of the city's main streets. He also pioneered the idea of leaving finds in situ so visitors could experience rooms as they were, rather than stripping everything to a museum. Much of the Pompeii a modern visitor walks through was uncovered under his direction.
Massimo Osanna and the Great Pompeii Project
By the early 2000s, decades of underfunding had left Pompeii crumbling; in 2010 the House of the Gladiators famously collapsed. The response was the EU-funded Great Pompeii Project, and from 2014 the archaeologist Massimo Osanna led a remarkable recovery. Under Osanna, conservation was stabilised and a new wave of excavation in Regio V produced spectacular finds — vivid new frescoes, the thermopolium (snack bar) with its painted counter, and fresh casts of victims. He restored Pompeii's scientific and public reputation and laid the groundwork for his successor.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel: The Director Today
In 2021 Gabriel Zuchtriegel became Director-General of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, succeeding Osanna. A German-Italian archaeologist born in 1981, he had previously directed the Greek temple site of Paestum. At Pompeii he has pushed forward dramatic new digging — at the suburban villa of Civita Giuliana and in Regio IX — while widening public access and research partnerships. You can read more on his dedicated page about Gabriel Zuchtriegel and the ongoing excavation.
Igor Mitoraj: Modern Art in the Ancient City
Not everyone tied to Pompeii is an archaeologist. The Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj (1944–2014) created monumental bronze figures in a fragmented classical style, and in 2016 some thirty of his works were placed among the ruins for the exhibition Mitoraj. Pompeii. Several remain on long-term display, including a fallen Daedalus in the Temple of Venus and a winged Icarus in the Forum. The effect — modern bronze among Roman stone — has become one of the site's most photographed sights. Explore his story on the Igor Mitoraj page and the wider world of Pompeii's statues.
Related Pages
Frequently Asked Questions
Who discovered Pompeii?
Pompeii was rediscovered by accident in 1748 under the patronage of King Charles of Bourbon, building on the 1738 discovery of nearby Herculaneum. No single person discovered it, but the engineer Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre led the earliest digs. The figure most associated with turning treasure-hunting into true archaeology, however, is Giuseppe Fiorelli, who took charge in the 1860s.
Who is the director of Pompeii today?
Since 2021 the Director-General of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii has been Gabriel Zuchtriegel, a German-Italian archaeologist born in 1981. He succeeded Massimo Osanna, who led a major decade of recovery and new excavation. Zuchtriegel previously directed the Greek site of Paestum and has expanded digging, research, and public access at Pompeii.
Who invented the plaster casts of Pompeii's victims?
Giuseppe Fiorelli devised the plaster-cast technique in 1863. He realised that the voids left in the hardened ash were moulds of decayed bodies, and by pouring liquid plaster into the cavities he recovered the exact poses of people and animals at the moment of death. The casts remain among the most powerful images of the disaster.
Was Igor Mitoraj connected to Pompeii?
Igor Mitoraj (1944–2014) was a Polish sculptor whose monumental bronze figures were displayed throughout the ruins in the 2016 exhibition Mitoraj. Pompeii. Several of his fragmented classical sculptures remain on long-term display among the ancient streets, creating a striking dialogue between modern art and the buried Roman city.