Gigantic replica of Emperor Constantine looks out over Rome as 3D technology brings past to life

ROME (AP) — Emperor Constantine now has a reconstructed statue befitting his larger-than-life role in history. Rome authorities on Tuesday unveiled a massive, 13-meter replica of the statue that Constantine commissioned for himself after 312 AD. That’s when he became the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity and help it spread throughout the empire. The statue was imagined using 3D modelling technology from scans of the nine giant original marble body parts that remain. The statue was financed by the Fondazione Prada, the educational and cultural arm of the Milan-based fashion house. And it was made by Factum Foundation, a Madrid-based non-profit that creates high-resolution digital replicas of the world’s cultural patrimony.