Constantine replica statue goes back to Rome. This 42-feet-tall, 1:1 facsimile of the Colossus arrived in Rome earlier in February and will stay in the garden of Villa Caffarelli of Musei Capitolini at least until 2025. The Factum Foundation, a Madrid-based digital preservation NGO, created the monument. The first exhibition of the piece was in 2022, at Fondazione Prada’s 2022 exhibition “Recycling Beauty”.
About the Original Piece
The mentioned non-governmental organization reproduced the Roman emperor’s monument using the most recent 3D modeling and scanning technology. The emperor ordered the producing the original Colossus, created between 313 and 315 C.E. But, many believe the piece was a “remake” in and of itself, modifying an earlier pagan sculpture. Located within the Maxentius Basilica, it honored Emperor Constantine’s reign.
Also, it signified the renunciation of the Roman Empire and himself from pagan to Christian beliefs. Additionally, it was here that the 15th-century marble pieces used to reconstruct the Colossus came to light. They are now on view at the Palazzo dei Conservatori in Rome. The enormous reclining statue appears to have been looted for bronze at some point in late antiquity, as sections of it are missing.
LiDAR scanning and photogrammetry served to examine pieces from Rome and one chest component from the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo. These technologies are becoming more and more common in conservation and cultural preservation. Irene Gaumé, a 3D sculptor, modeled the missing pieces of the monument in discussion with experts and curators at the Musei Capitolini.
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Constantine Replica is Not a Fake Object
Gaume also referred to medieval statues from the Museo Nazionale Romano, the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, and the Ara Pacis Museum. The replica also uses contemporary supplies and methods in place of the previous white marble and bronze coated onto a brick and wood framework. Plaster, marble dust, aluminum, polyurethane, reinforced resin, and gold leaf blended with 3D printing.
They served in producing robust replica that nearly resembles the original materials, according to a lengthy article by Factum Foundation. Digitally reconstructed parts of the statue were visually distinguished from facsimiles made from scanned fragments. “We’re not trying to build a fake object”, the founder of Factum Foundation Adam Lowe said. ” We’re trying to build something that physically and emotionally engages and that intellectually stimulates you”.
The Factum Foundation is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2009 in Madrid, established to demonstrate the importance of documenting, monitoring, studying, recreating, and disseminating the world’s cultural heritage through the rigorous development of high-resolution recording and re-materialization techniques.
