Gabriel Zuchtriegel is the new director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park

The new director of Pompeii Archaeological Park is Gabriel Zuchtriegel: this was announced by Culture Minister Dario Franceschini during his first public outing at the Colosseum. Born in 1981 in Weingarten, he was the youngest of the directors appointed in the first international public procedure for the selection of autonomous museums in 2015, when he was selected to lead the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia.

The new director was chosen from forty-four candidates, ten of whom were foreigners, who submitted to the Commission chaired by Marta Cartabia, President Emeritus of the Constitutional Court and currently Minister of Justice, and composed of: Luigi Curatoli, former General of the Carabinieri Corps and Director of the Great Pompeii Project; Carlo Rescigno, academician of the Lincei and full professor of classical archaeology at the University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”; Andreina Ricci, former full professor of methodology and technique of archaeological research at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”; Catherine Virlouvet, former director of the École française in Rome and professor emerita at the Univeristà d’Aix-Marseille.

At the end of the selection process, which concluded with interviews of the ten short-listed candidates, held on February 10 and 11, the commission identified the trio of candidates to be submitted to the minister, from among whom the new director, who will soon take office, was appointed. In addition to Gabriel Zuchtriegel, the trio included Renata Picone, a professor of restoration at the University of Naples Federico II, and Francesco Sirano director of the Herculaneum archaeological park since 2017.

Minister for Cultural Heritage and Tourism Dario Franceschini said, "Pompeii is a story of rebirth and redemption, a model for all of Europe in the management of EU funds. A place where research and new archaeological excavations have returned thanks to the long and silent work of the many cultural heritage professionals who have contributed to the extraordinary results that are a source of pride for Italy. In thanking Professor Osanna for the great work he has done in these years in Pompeii, I wish Gabriel Zuchtriegel the best of luck in his work, as he leaves an extremely positive experience in Paestum for an exciting job: the best job in the world for an archaeologist."

The German archaeologist succeeds Massimo Osanna, who has been appointed director general of state museums since September. The outgoing director said, “With emotion I greet my successor today, wishing him fruitful and exciting work. I am leaving an extraordinary place that has been my world for the last seven years, to which I have dedicated passion and commitment: I am happy to be able to entrust it into the hands of the new director, in the knowledge that I am leaving Pompeii in a very different state from the one in which I found it. A lot of pride, but also gratitude for those who have worked to save one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, from Minister Franceschini to the general directors of GPP to all the officials and staff who have accompanied me in this great challenge.”

Newly appointed director Gabriel Zuchtriegel leaves a positive legacy in the management of the Archaeological Park of Paestum and Velia, and upon his appointment he says, “Pompeii is special not only because of its priceless archaeological heritage, but also because of the team of professionals and operators who work at the site with great commitment and expertise and whom I am happy to be able to lead to ensure the protection and enjoyment of a unique place in the world.”

39 years old, married and father of two, Gabriel Zuchtriegel studied classical archaeology, prehistory and Greek philology in Berlin, Rome and Bonn, where in 2010 he completed a PhD on the Lazio site of Gabii near Rome. He was a fellow of the German Archaeological Institute and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which brought him to the University of Basilicata (Matera) in 2012 for a three-year research project on Greek colonization along the Ionian coast. He has taught at the universities of Bonn, Matera, Naples “Federico II” and Salerno and is the author of numerous articles and monographs, including Colonization and Subalternity in Classical Greece, Cambridge University Press 2018. In 2019, he was recognized with the Ravenna Festival Prize. In 2015, he collaborated in the “Great Pompeii Project” as a member of the Technical Design Secretariat. Since November 2015, he has directed the Paestum Archaeological Park, to which the Velia site was added in 2020, both of which are on the UNESCO heritage list.

He will therefore lead the Pompeii Archaeological Park for the next four years.

Gabriel Zuchtriegel is the new director of the Pompeii Archaeological Park

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