Expert surveyors took the exact dimensions of the emblematic Bartholdi monument on Saturday June 8, 2024. The largest stone statue in France was measured from every angle using scanners and a drone.
It sits majestically at the foot of the Citadel. Built between 1875 and 1880, the Lion symbolizes the heroic resistance of the city led by Denfert Rocherau during the siege of Belfort by the army Prussianlasting 103 days, from December 1870 to February 1871. According to Bartholdi, who imagined it, he “represents, in colossal form, a lion harassed, cornered and terrible still in its fury”.
A monumental work in sandstone whose dimension we understand when we look at it but whose exact measurement we had never really taken. Hence the idea of these expert surveyors on the occasion of the national week of discovery of their profession. The specialists decided to examine the “beast” from every angle on Saturday June 8, 2024. They took out scanners and a drone to model the stone beast in 3D.
“If we want to model this correctly, we still need detail,” explains Lucas Muller, technical advisor at Geotopo. Particularly for the inscriptions, the engravings, you will have to put in a lot of points.” He attacks the lower part of the statue with a 360° scanner, capable of reporting two million points per second! A survey of surgical precision which could prove very useful in the event of restoration work.
If tomorrow there were an event that led to this lion being rebuilt or renovated, we would at least have a digital twin. We can do it again, have precise measurements, to do it again identically.
Lucas Muller, technical advisor at Geotopo.
But to inspect the back of the statue, you have to gain a little more height and use a drone. This will go up to 50 meters. An altitude at which its pilot will have a breathtaking view of the Lion. “It’s really an experience that changes our daily livesrecognizes Florian Puzzuoli, the drone pilot. It’s a symbol of Belfort.”
For surveyors, digitizing the monument also makes it possible to change the image of the cadastre expert. A golden opportunity to promote a profession that is struggling to attract people. “There are less than 2000 of us in France, there are more than 1800, confides Jean-Baptiste Rollin, expert surveyor, to France 3 Franche-Comté. The figure is down compared to when I settled down and was sworn in as an expert surveyor. So that’s why we’re doing this communication operation, because we need to attract young people to this sector.”
Lois and Anis are professional surveyor baccalaureate students in Besançon. And they are already won over by all this latest equipment. “It’s true that it’s new generation equipment, when we see the scanner, the GPS, the droneexplains the first. It’s still attractive for us.” The second is convinced of having chosen the right path. “The surveyor is everywhere, on every big building site or even every house building sitehe assures. The surveyor is always present.”
Behind them, the Lion will not complain. 144 years after its completion, we know its size better. Even if we must remain careful with the final calculation, according to the surveys carried out by the surveyors, the giant would in fact measure 19.06 meters long, from the front paw to the tail, and 10.56 meters high. Less impressive than the 22 meters long and 11 meters high that it officially displayed until now. But not come down from his pedestal. Bartholdi’s work remains the greatest in France!
