This nativity scene is so small it can fit inside the eye of a needle – invisible to the naked eye.
But with a microscope the scene in all its intricate details is revealed.
Named the ‘Nano Holy Family’, it is a miniature replica of the Nativity Scene at Cathedral Square in Vilnius, Lithuania.
In it, baby Jesus is smaller than a human cell.
Jesus is approximately 22.822 micrometers with a diameter of about 12.5 micrometers.
A human cell has a 50 micrometre diameter.
He is accompanied in the stable by Mary, Joseph, the Three Kings, (Melchior, Caspar, Balthazar), three shepherds, a camel, a bull, a donkey, two sheep, and the manger.
All the sculptures have been placed on a disc which has a diameter of just 300 micrometers.
The sculpture was created by a 30 strong team comprising staff from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and the Vilnius University Laser Research Center in December 2017.
To create the sculptures, the statues in Cathedral Square were all scanned with lasers.
Then each of the 15 individual sculptures were painstakingly built up with a 3D printing technique.
This involved using a laser to precisely carve the sculptures from tiny lumps of plastic.
The researchers say that the technique allows 3D fabrication of almost any imaginable shape micro-structures with extremely high resolution.‘
Lithuania unveiled the nativity scene as a Christmas present for Pope Francis last December.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite looked through a microscope to see a replica of the crib at Vilnius's downtown Cathedral Square, on Friday, December 22.
It took three months for Lithuanian scientists and students to create the minuscule crib from a 3D scan of the life-size crèche, reducing it 10,000 times.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
