Xavier Hommaire de Hell

After attending school in Altkirch and Dijon, Hommaire graduated as an engineer at the École des Mines in Saint-Étienne in 1833.

In October 1835, he went to Turkey where he coordinated the construction of a suspension bridge in Constantinople and a lighthouse on the Black Sea coast.

[2] After receiving a grant of 3,000 francs per year from the Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture, he left with his wife and the painter Jules Laurens on an extended journey to the Orient.

With the help of the French ambassador, he met Mohammad Shah Qajar who entrusted him with studying the feasibility of a canal bringing water from the River Shahrood to the Savojbolagh plain.

Laurens sent his notes back to his wife in Paris who completed a full account of his travels (1856–1860) subsidized by the French authorities.