'scan the world' offers thousands of history's most iconic artworks for 3D print

a community-built initiative dubbed ‘scan the world’ is archiving the world’s most significant works of sculpture and cultural artifacts in digital 3D format. the open-source museum encourages creators to explore, download, and fabricate these valuable pieces of art history, formatted and ready to be 3D printed. the collection so far hosts an impressive 18,000 works, from iconic renaissance masterpieces, to architectural fragments, to archeological findings. the initiative notes: ‘in making culture accessible, communities are encouraged to share their scans, stories, and creations with the goal to bring tangible heritage to the masses.’

head of michelangelo’s david

visitors can explore the scan the world‘s open-source museum, filtering through the extensive archive by collection, artist, and location. part of my mini factory — the largest 3D printing sourcing platform — ‘scan the world’ has teamed with google arts and culture which partners with more than 2,000 institutions to contribute 3D scans to the platform. each object is documented with a text description noting its history and location, along with such specifications as dimensions, complexity, and print time. although much of the collection is western-centric, there are two categories that celebrate the breadth of works originating from china and india.

venus de milo (aphrodite of milos)

black bear skull

laocoon and his sons

venus of willendorf at the naturhistorisches museum, vienna

architectural fragment from the pulpit of sant’ambrogio

la pietà

the three graces at the hermitage museum, russia

bust of nefertiti at the neues museum, berlin

bust of nefertiti, physical print in progress

project info:

project title: scan the world