Design site MyMiniFactory and 3D print company Shining 3D have teamed up for the “Scan the world” project – a non-profit initiative to digitise the world’s sculpture’s by way of 3D scanning.

This project is currently underway with thousands of famous sculptures being scanned with Shining 3D’s EinScan-Pro 3D scanner.

These rough scans are then turned into models which you can download and print straight from MyMiniFactory’s site. It’s all free and there’s apparently 4 853 scanned sculptures in their libraries.

Looking at the individual pages for each of these sculptures is interesting in its own right too. Looking at the page for the The Thinker, for example, and you’ll find some background information about the original sculpture as well as well as details on where the genuine article is currently being held when it was scanned.

You’ll of course also find details about the print itself and the files you’ll need to download.

It isn’t just classical sculptures either, you can also find landmarks and other artworks too. Designs of the Statue of Liberty, the Burj Khalifa Tower and more form part of the project.

Even though an extensive library already exists, the organisers are still looking for additions. If you have a 3D scan of something interesting from your part of the world, contact the organisers at [email protected] and you can do your part to preserve part of history, and create really cool 3D prints.