Reconstruction of the Pegasus Statue on Top of the State Opera House in Vienna using Photogrammetry and Terrestrial and Close-Range Laser Scanning

This chapter describes the surveying work and the creation of a 3D model of a Pegasus statue, which builds the basis for a static analysis. The supporting legs of the statue were surveyed with the close-range laser scanner, Minolta VIVID 900. Approximately 45 individual scans were required to cover each leg. The rest of the statue was surveyed with the terrestrial laser scanner, Riegl LMS-Z420i with eight individual scans. The surveying of the statue using these two laser scanners is particularly interesting because the statue represents a rather “small” object for a terrestrial laser scanner, whereas for a close-range laser scanner it represents a rather “huge” object. With the aid of photos of the statue, the relative orientation between the different laser data was determined in the course of a hybrid bundle block adjustment. Finally, a “waterproof” 3D model of this complex statue was derived.