Fermin de Rueda (1744-1793), Spain's top military engineer, faced a broke country, crumbling military, and unstoppable French forces. He likely visited ancient cyclopean sites in Lusitania or studied Peruvian works. His solution: build a star-fort using 2,000-year-extinct dry-stacked cyclopean masonry. Why? Non-hydraulic mortar would trap moisture in thick walls and collapse. His counterintuitive choice proved cyclopean walls resist cannon fire - yet NO other star-fort worldwide adopted this technique. He was the last cyclops.
Fermin de Rueda - the last cyclops who revived extinct technique
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📍 La Fortaleza del Crestón🌍 Show on the globe
Key facts
- Fermin de Rueda was Spain's top military engineer in 1793, born 1744 in Salamanca
- He was sent to build a fort blocking passage from Basque Country into Castille
- The country was broke, military in shambles, and French forces seemed unstoppable
- Non-hydraulic mortar was too scarce and expensive at the time
- He likely visited old cyclopean sites in Lusitania: Yecla la Vieja, Merchanas, or Ulaca
- He may have spent time in Venezuela and learned of Peruvian cyclopean works
- His solution proved cyclopean walls can resist cannon fire without mortar
- No other star-fort in the world used this technique despite hundreds built in 18th-19th centuries
- Cyclopean wall strength is not apparent - their exceptional resistance to forces is counterintuitive
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