Pufendorf IAS is situated in one of the most beautiful buildings in Lund (if we may say so ourselves), originally built in 1886. 

The last major renovation of the former Department of Physics and Classical Department was done in 2009, just before the Pufendorf Institute moved in. It was of great importance during this renovation process that “the layers of history” were incorporated – also indoors. Special focus was on “The hall”, which used to be filled with plaster casts and copies of Greek marble statues of gods and goddesses during the Classical Department’s era. To our utter delight, some of the plaster statues remained in the building, including the Parthenon frieze, Aphrodite and Artemis, Oinomaios, Hippodomeia and Dionysos. These art works contribute to the distinctive atmosphere of the Institute today – and “the Hall” is still called “The Sculpture Hall” today. 

Last Tuesday, we had the pleasure to welcome a group of students and their teachers from the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History back to their old “turf”. And not for any other lecture, but for doing 3D-scannings of statues and the sculpture hall! The acquisition work was done with the structured light scanner (Artec Leo) and with a shift laser scanner (Faro phase) and the students spent most of three days here – also with analysing the results of the scans “en place”. 

Professor Nicolò Dell’Unto (responsible for the course Virtual Reality in Archaeology (Virtual Reality i arkeologi in Swedish), wrote to us afterwards: 

Thank you very much for the opportunity to do the scans at the institute. The Pufendorf Institute is an important reference for our students.

We at Pufendorf IAS were thrilled to follow the acquisition work and hear the young voices talking enthusiastically about their – our mutual – statues. We are even more thrilled about the fact that we can access the work and eventually do 3D-prints of… Dionysos? This year’s Christmas present?