When in spring 2019 a fire nearly destroyed Notre-Dame, one of Paris’ most recognizable landmarks, president Emmanuel Macron vowed to restore the building and reopen it to the public by 2024, the year Paris would host the Olympics. Though the cathedral wasn’t completed in time for the athletic competitions, it still opened its doors in December 2024, meeting an ambitious deadline.

At the centre of the effort was a cutting-edge software donated by U.S. tech company Autodesk, which the reconstruction team used to digitally map the Notre-Dame, and carefully plan each step of the rebuilding process.