A223 Thorvaldsen by Jakob FaurvigScan The World
Bertel Thorvaldsen
The Thorvaldsens Museum was the first cultural heritage institution introduced to the Danish people, opening its doors to the public of Denmark in 1848. Scan The World was recently invited to visit the museum to scan their collections and help share their artefacts in 3D under open source licenses.
The initial fulfillment of the Thorvaldsens Museum’s fabrication was to exhibit the work of Bertel Thorvaldsen, a celebrated neoclassical sculptor of Danish heritage and a national hero of Denmark, who spent a large segment of his life in Italy and worked alongside Antonio Canova. Together, the two sculptors revolutionized sculpture and set a new level for the generations of artists they inspired.
A223 Thorvaldsen by Jonathan BeckScan The World
Thorvaldsen was also an avid collector of cultural artefacts from across the globe, ranging from Greek, Roman and Egyptian objects, some of which date back thousands of years. This extensive collection of artefacts can also be found in the exhibits of the museum to this day.
Aside from sculpting, the Thorvaldsens Museum also exhibits the artist's drawings and initial sketches which later became his sculptures and reliefs. Even an extensive collection of contemporary art that took inspiration from Thorvaldsen can be found within the exhibitions today.
Democratizing Cultural Artefacts
Since its debut over 150 years ago, the Copenhagen museum has managed to maintain its foundations and roots, however, the cultural heritage site has also undergone changes to modernize itself.
Copies, Jane Craufurd by Courtesy of Thorvaldsens MuseumScan The World
Much like Scan The World, the Thorvaldsens Museum is working towards opening access to cultural artefacts. Through their Scan The World profile, an extensive selection of the cultural artefacts are displayed. The STL files can be downloaded for free, ready to 3D print and for the community to reuse under an open (CC0) license.
Works by Courtesy of Thorvaldsens MuseumScan The World
Platforms such as Scan The World are working towards giving people the freedom to access cultural heritage from around the world. We value inclusiveness for all and a way that we can achieve this is through providing free access to cultural artefacts to the community.
Bust Closeup by Courtesy of Thorvaldsens MuseumScan The World
To help achieve the mission of opening access to their cultural heritage, the Thorvaldsens Museum was an early adopter of CC0 (no copyright reserved), meaning that copyright becomes relinquished and become dedicated to the public. By giving public access, ownership is distributed to the people and in turn, the world is able to access liberated cultural heritage more freely.
Busts by Courtesy of Thorvaldsens MuseumScan The World
Much like Scan The World, the Thorvaldsens Museum is working towards opening access to cultural artefacts. Through their Scan The World profile, an extensive selection of the cultural artefacts are displayed. The STL files can be downloaded for free, ready to 3D print and for the community to reuse under an open (CC0) license.
Scan The World is a community-built ecosystem that encourages like-minded people to 3D scan cultural artefacts, such as those found at Thorvaldsens Museum, to share with others and open up the wonderful world of cultural heritage to share with those who may not be able to access it by other means.
The Thorvaldsensmuseum has reopened their doors in 2020 with its exhibition 'Face to Face', generating conversation between the Neoclassical artist with contemporary practitioners.
Scan The World supplied 3D printing of the scans that were used in their current exhibition 'Face to Face', in an effort to continue the mission of liberating cultural artefacts for everybody to enjoy.
Models used, download for free below:
Recumbent Lion (CC0)
Bust of Bertel Thorvaldsen (CC0)
Maria Fjodorovna Barjatinskaja (CC0)
Bust of Napoleon Bonaparte (CC0)
Visit The Thorvaldsensmuseum on MyMiniFactory
