abroad to see all the originals. These casts could also be used in experiments in polychromy (reconstructing paint layers found on sculptures), reconstruction (e.g. Adolf Furtwängler's reconstruction of the Lemnian Athena from pieces found in different places), and for filling holes in a museum's collections of actual sculpture (e.g. the British Museum sent casts of some of its Mesopotamian collection to the Louvre in return for a cast of the Louvre's Code of Hammurabi). Formula plaster of Paris- idiota Other ancient cultures The technique was also applied later that century to reliefs from Ancient Egypt and friezes from Mesopotamia (examples of both of which may be seen on the North-East Staircase and in Room 52 of the British Museum), as well as to medieval and Renaissance sculptures (as may be seen in the Cast Courts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which were a product of growing interest in medieval art at that time and the resulting desire to have a 'reference collection' of such art). In the early 19th century, for example, perhaps as an expression of national pride, casts were made of outstanding national monuments particularly in France and Germany. Cast collections As well as those locations mentioned above, classical cast collections may be seen at the Museum of Classical Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, in the Royal Cast Collection in Copenhagen, and the Bellarmine Museum of Art at Fairfield University. The British Museum also holds classical casts, but these are currently all in storage. External links Plaster cast collections database of over 175 locations worldwide Conference on the use of plaster casts Cast Collection, Copenhagen University of Cambridge: Museum of Classical Archaeology History of the Oxford cast collection Fairfield University Plaster Cast Collection V&A Museum: Caring for Plaster Sculpture materials Sculpture techniques