Even a building made of stone is still subject to the ravages of time, and the intricately carved gargoyles on Kronborg Castle in Denmark were in desperate need of repair before they crumbled into dust. We all know how easy it is to replicate something using a 3D printer, but if you need something made of stone, it's a slightly more involved process.

In this case, restorers cast what remained of the castle's gargoyles in plaster to create a replica that was then repaired by sculptors—but not in stone. To produce replacements that would last for hundreds of more years, the repaired versions were 3D scanned and then carved out of stone using a five-axis CNC milling machine.


The process takes a lot of time to ensure that every last detail is reproduced, but it's still faster than having to carve the gargoyles out of stone using just a hammer and chisel. [Scantech via The Awesomer]