Modern masterpiece: Imperceptible details of Michelangelo's David reproduced with 3D printing

A 3D printed replica of Michelangelo’s famous David sculpture was re-produced with the use of scanning technology by Hexagon. See the story from when it was first scanned in the Galleria dell’Accademia Museum of Florence, through 3D printing to when it was unveiled to the delight of Italian and United Arab Emirates’ ministers as the centrepiece of the Pavilion’s Theatre of Memory at Expo 2020 Dubai in May 2021. The project to create the replica posed numerous challenges, not least due to the scale of the original, which stands at over seven metres tall and weighs more than five tons. Scanning this iconic sculpture took two people 10 days to complete. Hexagon’s structured light scanner and laser scanner trackers, were used to ensure optimum accuracy while managing the scale of the challenge. The re-production of Michelangelo’s David is a project jointly promoted by the Italian General Commissioner’s Office for Expo 2020 Dubai, the Galleria dell’Accademia Museum of Florence and the Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Florence.