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# Google's Online Museum Adds 3D Animal Skulls and Sculptures
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/googles-online-museum-adds-3d-animal-skulls-and-sculptures/
- Published: 2015-04-11T02:48:09.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:47:20.000Z
- Description: The Google Cultural Institute, known for empowering internauts to Street View their way through museums and look very, very closely at digitized two-dimensional artworks, has ventured into the third dimension.
- Author: Benjamin Sutton
- Tags: In Brief, Dallas Museum of Art, Google, Israel Museum, Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:08 (2014, 2015, part 2)

![Dog with human mask from Colima, Mexico (circa 200 BCE–500 CE) from LACMA on the Google Cultural Institute (screenshot by the author for Hyperallergic)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/04/google-art-project-3d-dog-mask.jpg)

Dog with human mask from Colima, Mexico (circa 200 BCE–500 CE) from LACMA on the Google Cultural Institute (screenshot by the author for Hyperallergic)

The [Google Cultural Institute](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/?ref=hyperallergic.com), known for empowering internauts to Street View their way [through museums](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/moma-the-museum-of-modern-art/3AHAaPgvAuYGiA?projectId=art-project&ref=hyperallergic.com) and look very, [very closely](http://hyperallergic.com/97660/google-opens-its-online-exhibition-interface-to-all/) at digitized two-dimensional artworks, has ventured into the third dimension. The site has scanned, photographed, and uploaded 3D models of [303 objects](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/?f.media%5Ftype=3d&q.openId=media%5Ftype&ref=hyperallergic.com) from the collections of six institutions — the [California Academy of Sciences](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/?f.media%5Ftype=3d&q.8129907598665562501=216124527&q.openId=8129907598665562501&v.filter=items&ref=hyperallergic.com) (CAS) in San Francisco, the [Museo d’Arte Orientale](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/?f.media%5Ftype=3d&q.8129907598665562501=169830398&q.openId=8129907598665562501&v.filter=items&ref=hyperallergic.com) in Turin, the [Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/?f.media%5Ftype=3d&q.8129907598665562501=134058993&q.openId=8129907598665562501&v.filter=items&ref=hyperallergic.com) (KMV), the [Israel Museum](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/?f.media%5Ftype=3d&q.8129907598665562501=83775814&q.openId=8129907598665562501&v.filter=items&ref=hyperallergic.com) in Jerusalem, the [Los Angeles County Museum of Art](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/?f.media%5Ftype=3d&q.8129907598665562501=218243239&q.openId=8129907598665562501&v.filter=items&ref=hyperallergic.com) (LACMA), and the [Dallas Museum of Art](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/browse/?f.media%5Ftype=3d&q.8129907598665562501=13881596&q.openId=8129907598665562501&v.filter=items&ref=hyperallergic.com) (DMA).

Thus far the 3D objects collection consists primarily of 242 animal skulls from the CAS’s collection. They range from a slightly terrifying head of a [wolf eel](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/wolf-eel/JwGjIAPl9uaMfw?ref=hyperallergic.com) to the gloriously sculptural horns atop the skull of a [gerenuk](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/litocranius-walleri-gerenuk/rQFzusPS3trdnA?ref=hyperallergic.com) and the quasi-minimalist triangular form of [a marabou stork’s beak](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/leptoptilos-crumenifer-marabou-stork/VAGA98n9-ouynA?ref=hyperallergic.com).

![A hippopotamus sculpture from 2000 BCE, in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, as seen in Google Cultural Institute. (gif by the author)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2015/04/google-art-sculpture-3d-hippo.gif)

A hippopotamus sculpture from 2,000 BCE, in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, as seen in Google Cultural Institute (GIF by the author)

On the man-made objects end of things, antiquities dominate. LACMA’s contributions include a sculpture of a [dog wearing a human mask](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/dog-with-human-mask/8wH7lLtcYASQ9A?ref=hyperallergic.com) (above), which was made between 200 BCE and 500 CE near Colima, Mexico. The most incredible may be a piece described as “[The Oldest Mask in the World](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/the-oldest-mask-in-the-world/GgGe8fOghMCbLw?ref=hyperallergic.com),” a stone mask with a creepy, toothy grin from about 7,000 BCE that belongs to the Israel Museum. Being able to rotate the 3D object and examine it from all angles gives a sense of its heft, texture, and the precision of its carving. The Israel Museum also uploaded the site’s newest object thus far, a 1939 sandstone [bust of Nimrod](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/nimrod/LAERimjxWtn3qw?ref=hyperallergic.com) by Itzhak Danziger. One of the collection’s most colorful works comes from the KMA: a 4,000-year-old turquoise-blue sculpture of a [hippopotamus](https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/asset-viewer/hippotamus/mQG9uoRILw7tww?ref=hyperallergic.com) (above). The digital renderings of the artifacts and skulls were created by the Google Cultural Institute using the complex rig seen in action in this [Slash Gear report](http://www.slashgear.com/google-launches-online-museum-of-3d-objects-09378058/?ref=hyperallergic.com) on the project.

Though digitized objects are a first for Google, the British Museum ventured into similar territory [last year](http://mashable.com/2014/10/31/british-museum-3d-printing-sketchfab/?ref=hyperallergic.com) when it made [3D models of 14 artifacts](https://sketchfab.com/britishmuseum?ref=hyperallergic.com) from its collection available to download, manipulate, and print for free. Google’s models aren’t downloadable — at least not yet.