Sept. 28, 2025, 6:19 p.m.
(PHOTO: Dumskaya)
French engineer Emmanuel Durand, who specializes in collecting and processing 3D data, brought to Odesa high-precision sensors that monitored the condition of the Roman Colosseum, St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, and Beirut's silos.
In cooperation with the Odesa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, the first device was mounted on the bell tower of St. Paul's Cathedral, known to Odessans as Kirkha, the Dumskaya newspaper reported.
The device is equipped with a battery and can operate autonomously for eight years, and the engineer paid half of the cost of the sensors out of his own pocket.
According to the publication, this is the sixth visit of the Frenchman to Ukraine. Since 2022, the specialist has been coming to Ukraine to document the crimes of Russian troops, share his experience and provide volunteer assistance. Thanks to Emanuel, the German company Zoller+Fröhlich donated a high-precision 3D laser scanner to Ukraine. For four years, the engineer has been taking pictures of architectural monuments damaged by the Russians in Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Mykolaiv regions, recording the condition of an ancient monument in Tustan, and visiting Odesa four times.
For the first time, according to Emanuel Durand, he tested the new equipment in the port of Beirut, which was damaged by an ammonium nitrate explosion in August 2020. As a volunteer, the engineer investigated the condition of the partially surviving silos.
In an effort to make his work easier and reduce the time he spent on volunteer projects, as he needed to work and feed his family, Emanuel turned his attention to special sensors that record changes in real time and work remotely.
According to Vladyslav Demchenko, a surveying engineer at the Odesa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture, the Italian sensors will allow monitoring the condition of Odesa's architectural monuments, such as the Opera House, Passage, Kirkha, and Philharmonic.
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