Collaboration to Improve Security at Milan Cathedral and Museum

For more than six centuries, Milan ­Cathedral has been celebrated the whole world over as one of the finest examples of unique sculpture and architectural masterpieces, and as the very symbol of the city of Milan. A security incident in July 2013 emphasized the need to update security at the monument. The Enzo Hruby Foundation took quick steps in close collaboration with the professional security division of Samsung Techwin to provide the very latest video surveillance technology in a prestigious protection project.

The Enzo Hruby Foundation was founded six years ago on the initiative of the Hruby family and Hesa S.p.A. and takes its name from the founder and current President, Enzo Hruby who introduced the very first electronic security systems to Italy back in the late 1960's. The Foundation aims to promote a culture of security, protecting the nation's heritage from theft, and vandalism through the use of the latest advanced technology. The Turin Shroud during the extension of the Turin Cathedral, the manuscripts of the Vatican Apostolic Library during digitalization of the documents, the Cini Foundation, the St. Francis of Assisi Library, the Asinelli Tower in Bologna and Milan Cathedral are just some of the sites the Enzo Hruby Foundation has helped to protect. To pursue its institutional purpose, the Enzo Hruby Foundation promotes studies, research, seminars, conventions and publications on the theme of security and the optimal use of available technologies.

"We're very happy to be able to offer this concrete contribution to our city," said Carlo Hruby, the Vice President. "This project combines the protection of such a unique cultural heritage and the symbol of Milan, monitoring an extensive municipal area, the protection of which is for the benefit and peace-of-mind of citizens and tourists alike. Today, video surveillance security is one of the fastest developing sectors and in this project, which is a fine example of perfect collaboration between the public and private sectors, some of the very latest technologies have been applied giving the police an irreplaceable instrument to help them in their duties."

"This project let us use the very latest solutions to protect an area loved by every citizen of Milan and more," said Fabio Andreoni, Italy Country Manager for Samsung Techwin. "We're particularly pleased to be able to show how technology, used in an effective way, can really help make the work done by the authorities much more efficient, and in broader terms, also improve the quality of living for the people of Milan. It's just one piece of a more complex puzzle, but if making Piazza del Duomo safer helps contribute to a more efficient management of the area, with an increase in the number of visitors and consequent induced revenue, we'll have proven how we can reach important goals quickly and with excellent results, by operating in harmony with various public and private bodies."

Strategic Placement
To guarantee protection for the monument and control the vast urban area around the perimeter of the Cathedral and on the rooftop terraces, a modern video surveillance system of the latest generation was installed, with 20 remotely managed HD night vision cameras operating 24 hours a day. Twelve cameras with a video analysis function were installed in strategic points around the perimeter, to guarantee complete coverage and leave no area uncovered. Seven cameras of the same kind have been installed on the terraces with an additional motor-driven HD camera that covers the entire length of the central part.

All the cameras have built-in IR night vision illuminators so no modifications to the current lighting were required around the perimeter or on the terraces - a non-invasive intervention in terms of installation and infrastructure. The images from these new cameras are transmitted to the local police operations center and the provincial police headquarters. Here they are integrated with the images from the urban video surveillance system that uses video analysis to detect and classify suspicious activity and objects, These are in addition to the images coming from 1,300 cameras already managed by the authorities. Umbra Control from Perugia was responsible for the project.

The President of the Venerable Duomo Factory that is responsible for the maintenance and preservation of the cathedral, Angelo Caloia, said "With this important project, we're protecting not only the monument, but also the piazza and the area around the cathedral. Five million people visit the cathedral every year and in 2015 we estimate 20 million tourists will pass through the doors: the factory is working hard to keep all areas of the monument open with 12 building sites, and also thanks to important security measures such as this. This major project is important not only for the cathedral, it also provides added security for the city with the upcoming Expo 2015 and we can only thank those who, like the Enzo Hruby Foundation and Samsung Techwin, were ready to share this onerous task."

The Cathedral Museum System
The work didn't finish with the project to protect the cathedral and its heritage though. The two parties have been busy protecting the Duomo's Museum, which reopened on 4th November after eight years of restoration work. The security system installed there meets the specific requirements of the environment. The solution had to satisfy the aesthetic needs of the building and the variety of works of art in the museum, which has been the home of all sorts of items that tell the story of the Milan Cathedral since 1953. The museum contains notable works of art of including tapestries, sculptures, architectural models, paintings, stained glass, hangings and other works that all require specifically tailored protection systems to be kept safe.

The latest generation of Samsung Techwin cameras with full HD resolution and the new Wisenet 3 processors were used to provide a system of the very highest image quality, offering optimized compression and management of network resources. The most suitable camera was chosen for each environment, both from an aesthetic point of view and in terms of performance. The museum has 26 rooms with a total surface area of 2,000 m². Most of the cameras in the museum are mini dome interior cameras with IR illuminators but new fish-eye cameras with 360 degree lenses were also used in some of the rooms to survey the whole exhibit space. All the cameras send their signals to the central recording facility with three Samsung Techwin SRN-1000 network video recorders.

The Samsung Techwin products used in the Milan Cathedral and Museum projects included 12x SNO-6084RP 2MP 1080p Full HD IP cameras around the cathedral perimeter; 4x SNO-6084RP 2MP 1080p Full HD IP cameras and one SNP-6200RHP 2MP 1080p Full HD IP dome camera on the cathedral terrace; one SRN-1000 network video recorder in the cathedral; 74x SNO-6084RP 2MP 1080p Full HD IP cameras and 2x SNF-7010P 360° fish-eye interior cameras in the museum as well as three further SRN-1000 network video recorders.