2013 Winged Victory Monument

thingiverse

This is a (rough) model of the Nike monument from the island of Samothrace as it appeared post WWI until the restoration that started in 2013. The trireme prow, when the pieces were brought to the Louvre in the 19th century, was missing large chunks. The gaps were filled in for stability but were left visible. The filled gaps could be seen as slightly recessed areas around the prow. The statue of Nike was originally set atop the prow, but during a later restoration in the 20th century, the statue was moved atop a large block that in turn was set up inside the prow. The block was a utility to lift the statue higher to make it more visible from the stairs of the Daru Staircase. This was the manner the monument was displayed and presented to visitors until 2013. At that time, the statue was removed and underwent an extensive study and conservation. The prow pedestal was completely disassembled, studied, cleaned, then rebuilt with the addition of 3D-scanned copies of missing parts from it recovered in Samothrace. The Nike Monument looks different today since it was carefully cleaned up to reveal the original Parian and Lartos marbles, and the entire thing set atop a low pedestal to protect it from visitors. The block the statue had been set on was detached and not reused. Once again the Winged Victory stands on the trireme.