Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre (16 August 1702 – 14 March 1780) was a military engineer in the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...

who discovered architectural remains at

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was burie ...

and

Herculaneum Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the n ...

Early life

Alcubierre was born and studied in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Province of Zaragoza, Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Ara ...

, Spain. When he reached the requisite age, he decided to volunteer in the army as an engineer, after receiving help from the influential Count of Bureta. His work led him to various Spanish cities including

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capit ...

(where he helped build military fortifications),

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. In 1738 he was promoted to the rank of Captain and was sent to Italy. By 1750 he was a Lieutenant-Colonel and in 1777 he reached the summit of his military career with the post of Field Marshal.

Herculaneum and Pompeii

In the course of his works prospecting the estate of the future

Charles III of Spain it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = 20 January 1716 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain , death_da ...

he stumbled across some remains of the Roman city of

. He then sought permission and funding from the king to continue the excavations on a larger scale, which was granted in 1738 although with little manpower and resources. With many difficulties, he finally discovered the city's theatre and following this, various murals. After these two key discoveries, he managed to excavate the rest of the city without large obstructions. In 1748, he began prospecting the nearby ancient city of

(which had previously been believed to be

Stabiae Stabiae () was an ancient city situated near the modern town of Castellammare di Stabia and approximately 4.5 km southwest of Pompeii. Like Pompeii, and being only from Mount Vesuvius, this seaside resort was largely buried by tephra as ...

), noted for the fact that it remained virtually unchanged, with expressions of surprise still on the inhabitants who remained there intact, buried by the sudden eruption of

Vesuvius Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...

. This discovery radically changed the concept of archaeology, which until then had only been interested in finding interesting artefacts to decorate the cabinets of private collectors and estates.

Later life

He went on to excavate the towns of Asinio Pollio (

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana rail ...

Capri Capri ( , ; ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town of Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has be ...

, Pozzuoli and

Cumae Cumae ( grc, Κύμη, (Kumē) or or ; it, Cuma) was the first ancient Greek colony on the mainland of Italy, founded by settlers from Euboea in the 8th century BC and soon becoming one of the strongest colonies. It later became a rich Ro ...

. However, from 1750 onwards, arguments arose between him and his subordinates, until he abandoned his responsibilities as head of the excavations and left his duties to people such as Winckelmann,

Karl Jakob Weber Karl Jakob Weber (12 August 1712 – 1764) was a Swiss architect and engineer who was in charge of the first organized excavations at Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae, under the patronage of Charles VII of Naples. At first a soldier and military ...

and Francisco la Vega. They charged him with mishandling of the ancient artifacts. Alcubierre died on 14 March 1780 in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

References

Roque Joaquín Alcubierre
Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza. In Spanish.
«Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre»
on the online encyclopedia ''Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa''.

by Antonio Beltrán Martínez, published by Beltrán, M. ; Beltrán, A. ; Fatás, G. (dir. y coord.), ''Aragoneses Ilustres'', Zaragoza: Caja de Ahorros de la Inmaculada, 1983, págs. 11-12. {{DEFAULTSORT:Alcubierre, Roque Joaquin de 1702 births 1780 deaths Spanish military engineers People from Zaragoza 18th-century Spanish military personnel 18th-century Spanish archaeologists