I made a 1:100 scale model of the Parthenon (72cm x 34cm)

[Kaleun96]

For the last 6 months or so I've been working on designing a 3D model of the Parthenon from scratch and then 3D printing it at 1:100 scale. I finally can put this project to rest so wanted to share it with you all now that it's finished!

An album with more images and some descriptions can be found on imgur here.

I relied on 20 or 30 different academic articles and books, some dating back to the late 1800s. I tried to be as accurate as I could, using measurements to a tenth of a millimetre if available but some dimensions had to be approximated if they weren't available. I also ignored the asymmetry inherent in the Parthenon, such as the curved base, inconsistent spacing between columns, or the varying sizes of columns depending on whether they were placed on the corners or not.

There are also some features which aren't known to have existed for certain but are inferred based on available evidence. These include the windows of the Naos, the stairwell hidden inside the Eastern wall of the Naos, the Ionic columns of the Opisthodomos and so on.

In total the model took about 700-800 hours to print or nearly a full month of non-stop printing. It took about 7kg of white PLA filament and a few hundred grams of brown PLA filament for the "wood" and some gold silk PLA for the shields and Athena statue. I also used approximately 600 steel dowels pins to join the parts together so overall the model is fairly hefty and quite robust.

The roof tiles can be removed in two sections revealing the wooden structure underneath and that wooden structure plus the ceiling of the inner rooms can be removed to reveal the interior. Theoretically I could disassemble most of the model, very little is glued in place, but there's quite a lot of friction holding it all together so disassembly would be difficult.

 

I do have a follow-up project related to this, which is making an online 3D experience where you can explore the model in first person view as you walk around it. I'll share that one here too once it's finished.

[Heliodromus]

WOW! Incredible work!

 

[Nerosmyfavorite68]

Indeed!  That model deserves a round of applause!

[kirispupis]

This is indeed an incredible amount of work and well done!

Are you planning to paint the frieze to match the original look?

[AETHER]

That's some project well done. Turned out great!

 

[AncientJoe]

Wow!! That looks absolutely incredible. Well done!

[Deinomenid]

Superb!

The Elgin  clan are still around, so  keep it well clear of them!

[CPK]

Wow @Kaleun96, that is an incredible piece of art! I am blown away by the level of detail you've put into it. This is model worthy of a museum display!

[Kaleun96]

Thanks all! It was a really interesting project to undertake but did distract me from coin-related ones for much of this year. I now have a space in my head dedicated to Parthenon architecture that I'll have to make use of one day when I actually visit the thing (or go to the one in Nashville).

I'm not sure if anyone else is in to 3D printing but I have made available a small section of the model that's much easier to print and assemble, you can download that here. At some point I may also write some blog posts on it for my website that goes into a bit more detail about the process. I was surprised how structurally robust the model is, I think I could stand on it and I'm not a small guy. It really shows how well they designed it and knew about how best to distribute loads and add rigidity etc.

57 minutes ago, kirispupis said:

This is indeed an incredible amount of work and well done!

Are you planning to paint the frieze to match the original look?

Perhaps if I had any talent for model painting 😅 Maybe one day I'll get sick of looking at it and decide to give it a go but for now will resist the urge!

[Curtisimo]

That is absolutely amazing @Kaleun96. I have lots of experience making models by hand but I’ve never tried my hand at 3D printing. It is something I’d love to get into some day when I can get around to buying the equipment. Your project turned out fantastic.

Here is my photo of the building the last time my wife and I were in Athens.

Edited August 25 by Curtisimo

[Kaleun96]

26 minutes ago, Curtisimo said:

That is absolutely amazing @Kaleun96. I have lots of experience making models by hand but I’ve never tried my hand at 3D printing. It is something I’d love to get into some day when I can get around to buying the equipment. You’re project turned out fantastic.

Here is my photo of the building the last time my wife and I were in Athens.

Thanks @Curtisimo! Have you made any models of ancient structures?

I can definitely recommend 3D printing for those who have considered it. The last 2 years have really shaken up the hobby and affordable printers are now far beyond those original janky machines from the 2010s with exposed belts and screws that take days to print anything of reasonable size and at not-great quality. I have a Bambu Lab X1 but even Bambu's cheapest printer, the A1 Mini ($200), could print this model just as well.

Cool photo of the Parthenon! You can see the mounting holes for the shields on the epistyle and if you look closely you can even see their outline where they protected the marble against the elements for a bit longer than the exposed areas between them:

[Curtisimo]

29 minutes ago, Kaleun96 said:

Thanks @Curtisimo! Have you made any models of ancient structures?

I have made a few models of ancient building and many models of Renaissance and medieval buildings. This is the only model I have photos of on my phone. It’s a concept design for a modern library in the center of Rome near Piazza Navona.

Note the cross section in the lower right corner through the Basilica of Sant’Andrea de Valle which is accurate and to scale. I did lots of research just for that piece so I know what you mean when you describe the time you took to research the existing conditions. I’m very impressed!

29 minutes ago, Kaleun96 said:

I can definitely recommend 3D printing for those who have considered it. The last 2 years have really shaken up the hobby and affordable printers are now far beyond those original janky machines from the 2010s with exposed belts and screws that take days to print anything of reasonable size and at not-great quality. I have a Bambu Lab X1 but even Bambu's cheapest printer, the A1 Mini ($200), could print this model just as well

What kind of software do you need to have to build high detail models? Is that something that is available open source? One of the reasons I haven’t started down that path yet is that I know myself well enough to understand I’d end up buying new software, a new optimized computer and the largest printer I could afford. Plus, I’ve been itching to try my hand at forging things in metal that I 3D print models of first. I would end up going down the rabbit hole much to my wife’s annoyance. 🙂 

 

Edited August 25 by Curtisimo

[Di Nomos]

Fantastic. I'll order one thanks. Will look good amongst my other ancient Greek stuff.

Seriously though, well done, it really is superb.

[Kaleun96]

2 hours ago, Curtisimo said:

I have made a few models of ancient building and many models of Renaissance and medieval buildings. This is the only model I have photos of on my phone. It’s a concept design for a modern library in the center of Rome near Piazza Navona.

Note the cross section in the lower right corner through the Basilica of Sant’Andrea de Valle which is accurate and to scale. I did lots of research just for that piece so I know what you mean when you describe the time you took to research the existing conditions. I’m very impressed!

What kind of software do you need to have to build high detail models? Is that something that is available open source? One of the reasons I haven’t started down that path yet is that I know myself well enough to understand I’d end up buying new software, a new optimized computer and the largest printer I could afford. Plus, I’ve been itching to try my hand at forging things in metal that I 3D print models of first. I would end up going down the rabbit hole much to my wife’s annoyance. 🙂 

 

Wow that's quite a model! That's a great cross-section of the Basilica. I'd love to do the full Akropolis like this if I had the space. I was half considering making the woodwork in the ceiling out of some balsa wood or similar but it's much easier to have a printer spit out 120 identical rafters with notches in them than to cut them all to size and do the joints by hand.

In terms of software I use Fusion 360 and the free Hobby license. It has few restrictions/limitations compared to the full pro version, which is quite expensive unless this kind of thing is your job, and I found it quite easy to pick up and learn a few years back. Hardware wise it does tend to demand a lot of RAM but it can only use one CPU core with limited graphics card usage so older machines tend to run it OK but, with large projects like this one, the software does crash from time to time.

[hotwheelsearl]

Super cool, great detail on the antefix!

 

[kirispupis]

I used to own a 3d printer that was mostly used by my sons to print random things they found on Thingiverse. In junior high it was running non-stop for their fidget-spinner business. About a year ago we sold it.

I visited the Akropolis last year and took these photos. If you'd like to add a touch of realism of what the site is like today, then place 50,000 Lego or 3d printed people around the outside. 🙂 

 

This temple to Apollo in the Peloponnese is considered the best preserved in Greece. It was nearly intact until the frieze was hauled (eventually) to the British Museum.

[Kaleun96]

3 hours ago, hotwheelsearl said:

Super cool, great detail on the antefix!

 

Thanks! I'm hopeless at this kind of sculptural modelling so I had software generate a 3D model from a 2D image similar to the one you shared. It turned out pretty well considering the software had little in the way of clues to go on to determine the 3D shape of the object and thickness etc.

[Kaleun96]

3 hours ago, kirispupis said:

I used to own a 3d printer that was mostly used by my sons to print random things they found on Thingiverse. In junior high it was running non-stop for their fidget-spinner business. About a year ago we sold it.

I visited the Akropolis last year and took these photos. If you'd like to add a touch of realism of what the site is like today, then place 50,000 Lego or 3d printed people around the outside. 🙂 

 

This temple to Apollo in the Peloponnese is considered the best preserved in Greece. It was nearly intact until the frieze was hauled (eventually) to the British Museum.

Beautiful pics! Did you go early in the morning to avoid most of the crowds or late in the evening?

I was hoping to print some human figurines to place around the building to provide a sense of scale but my printer, even with the smallest 0.2mm nozzle, struggled to print them. The problem is mostly that the limbs are too thin (~0.1-0.3mm) and I couldn't find any good era-appropriate models (for example) that had people with full length clothes or armour that would help provide more stability and dimension to the model for printing.

Quote

This temple to Apollo in the Peloponnese is considered the best preserved in Greece. It was nearly intact until the frieze was hauled (eventually) to the British Museum.

Naturally! Somewhat related to that, I picked up this nice report by the Parthenon restoration project that was previously owned by William St. Clair, who was one of the big supporters for the return of the Elgin marbles and wrote several books on it. It's mostly in Greek but the drawings are great to look at and the "provenance" is an added bonus.

Edited August 26 by Kaleun96

[Herodotus]

13 hours ago, Curtisimo said:

I have made a few models of ancient building and many models of Renaissance and medieval buildings. This is the only model I have photos of on my phone. It’s a concept design for a modern library in the center of Rome near Piazza Navona.

Note the cross section in the lower right corner through the Basilica of Sant’Andrea de Valle which is accurate and to scale. I did lots of research just for that piece so I know what you mean when you describe the time you took to research the existing conditions. I’m very impressed!

What kind of software do you need to have to build high detail models? Is that something that is available open source? One of the reasons I haven’t started down that path yet is that I know myself well enough to understand I’d end up buying new software, a new optimized computer and the largest printer I could afford. Plus, I’ve been itching to try my hand at forging things in metal that I 3D print models of first. I would end up going down the rabbit hole much to my wife’s annoyance. 🙂 

 

I recognized that spot immediately.  I've stayed in that hotel(different name now) right there at the Piazza di S. Pantaleo, or rather an annex of the hotel right next to the Campo de' Fiori.

A picture of a Bernini's Four Rivers Fountain in the Piazza Navona:

And a picture of the ceiling in the Basilica of Sant’Andrea de Valle:

[Herodotus]

4 hours ago, kirispupis said:

I visited the Akropolis last year and took these photos. If you'd like to add a touch of realism of what the site is like today, then place 50,000 Lego or 3d printed people around the outside. 🙂 

🤣

Or, plan be the first ones through the gate right when they open at 8a.😉

[Kaleun96]

Does anyone have any ideas for what other ancient structures might make for a good model? Not that I can commit to making another one anytime soon but it has crossed my mind! The Parthenon is a bit special in that it is so widely studied and so much of it is still extant, other ancient structures will probably require a lot of guesswork.

Herod's Temple or the Lighthouse of Alexandria could be fun, the latter having the benefit of a much smaller footprint so space is less of a concern.

[kirispupis]

4 hours ago, Kaleun96 said:

Beautiful pics! Did you go early in the morning to avoid most of the crowds or late in the evening?

Yup! I was one of the first in line and rushed up there for the pics. This was in April, when it was only obscenely crowded and not suffocation-worthy.

1 hour ago, Kaleun96 said:

Does anyone have any ideas for what other ancient structures might make for a good model? Not that I can commit to making another one anytime soon but it has crossed my mind! The Parthenon is a bit special in that it is so widely studied and so much of it is still extant, other ancient structures will probably require a lot of guesswork.

The Temple of Apollo at Bassae is one possibility. I included a photo in my post above. The condition will certainly require less guess-work, though the "style" is not far off from the Parthenon.

A small project could be the Athenian treasury at Delphi.

Or there's the Temple to Apollo at Delphi, though it will require some imagination.

Even more imagination will be required for the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, though it is depicted on coins and detailed descriptions exist.

Another well-preserved building is the Temple to Hephaistos in Athens.

Of course, the obvious companion to your Akropolis is its neighbor, the Temple to Nike (which my wife preferred over the Akropolis).

Or, you could go a different direction with the theater at Epidauros.

In ancient times, Epidauros was more well-known for its Temple to Asklepios.

Of course, if you really want a challenge regarding what something truly looked like, have a go at the Mysteries at Eleusis.

Or try something completely different with one of the villas from Delos.