The project was announced during the course of the celebrations for “One Year To Go” to the Universal Exhibition, which will be inaugurated on 1st October 2021: three days of events organised by the Commissioner General’s Office for Italy’s participation with the aim of drawing attention to Italy and to Expo 2020 Dubai – a unique opportunity for the country to relaunch its cultural, economic, scientific and touristic attractiveness on the international scene.

Amid memory and future, the reproduction of the David will be shipped to Dubai and placed in the centre of the Italy Pavilion during the forthcoming Expo. The project, which relaunches Italy’s beauty and art cities, will include over the next 12 months the reproduction’s “making of” phases to afford visitors, but also to leave a legacy at the Universal Exhibition, a glimpse into the multidisciplinary skills involved in this complex operation.

“The meaning of this operation, which will showcase to the world the essence of Italy, Florence and the country’s art cities, is to introduce visitors to Expo Dubai the multidisciplinary skills associated with digital culture, linked to digitalisation and collective intelligence made possible thanks to the reuse of information. A multidisciplinary and inclusive joint effort,” declared the Commissioner General of Section for Italy at Expo Dubai, Paolo Glisenti.

“We, as the Galleria dell’Accademia art museum in Florence, are pleased to participate, under the aegis of the Italian Commissioner’s Office for Expo 2020 Dubai, in such an innovative project, the first to reproduce Michelangelo’s David with extremely advanced technology. The David will take centre stage in the Italy Pavilion at the forthcoming Universal Exhibition. An icon of beauty and perfection, the figure will not only embody Italian art, but also carry an important positive message of rebirth, hope and courage”. These were the words of the Director of the Accademia, Cecilie Hollberg.

The importance of this project, curated in its scientific aspects by the University of Florence, will emerge from the digital acquisition process of the statue’s data and in the entirely natural milling of the plastic material forming the statue, which will engage the efforts of scientists, technicians, curators, artisans, lecturers and university students over the forthcoming months.

The reproduction of the David, Michelangelo’s embodiment of the Good, True and Righteous, completed using the most advanced technologies available in Italy, carries a message of rebirth in this particular age, thanks to the finest skills and to beauty as a universal value.