Back in the 1990's an MIT professor named Ely Sachs was the first to coin the phrase, '3D printing'. This was all the while researchers and students at MIT were working on some of the earliest 3D printers there were. Utilizing a printer which worked with an alumina powder, and a binding agent, several prints were created in quite the detail for being 1995-1996. Most of these prints were lost, however, one has recently emerge when it was gifted to a M.A. man named Branden Gunn. The full story on this old 3D print of the Hagia Sophia can be found here: http://3dprint.com/12179/old-3d-prints-hagia-sophia

Below is a picture of this amazing 20 year old piece: