…to the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. More about the ceiling here.
When asked to undertake the project, Michelangelo at first demurred, saying that “painting is not my art.”
The Vatican Library has put up a nice panoramic zoomable view of the entire chapel, here. Just click on the image and move around with the arrow keys; zoom in with the Shift key and out with Control.
Also see Sgt Mom’s post on her visit to the Basilica of St Peter.
I visited the chapel during the restoration when only small areas could be seen but the contrast between those areas restored and those still not cleaned could also be seen. More recently, I have been lucky enough to see the chapel after the job was finished. I wonder of some sort of system could be constricted that separated the tourists from the ceiling as the chapel is quite high.
The Lascaux cave has resorted to a beautifully done duplicate cave a short distance from the real one for tourists. The impression is not diminished by knowing that one is seeing a duplicate. It is very well done.
Mike, I visited it during the restoration as well – Spring of ’88, IIRC. The restoration of the ceiling was at the half-way point, which meant you couldn’t see the famous God-Touching Man scene, but it was fascinating to compare the un-restored half with what was restored.
Yeah, that VR thing should be done with more places. It would be nice to be able to walk around and see things without having to travel there. Clearly, the travel would be nice but not everyone can take the time or spend the money.
Google should make a deal with some museums to do something akin to their streetview effect with their existing collection, creating a kind of free-form walk through akin to the VR Sistine. That would be freaking cool.
Good idea.