VR Vatican.
May 15, 2010 6:38 PM   Subscribe

 
Missing the guards telling people not to sit on those stairs.
posted by smackfu at 6:45 PM on May 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Have the colors been digitally amped up or is it just look that better since being cleaned several years ago?
posted by aetg at 6:48 PM on May 15, 2010


I see they've made some alterations, underfoot.

Is nothing sacred, indeed?
posted by landlubber at 6:52 PM on May 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Also missing the guards yelling at you for trying to take photos of a ceiling you've stood in line two hours for and wandered through 60 labyrinthine rooms at the museum proper to get to.

I'll say this, it really showcases just how comprehensive the chapel is; it's not just a small painting on a ceiling, or even a large painting on a ceiling. It's thousands of details, painted as magnificent frescoes on any spare inch of real estate.
posted by disillusioned at 6:54 PM on May 15, 2010


NO PHOTO!
posted by Panjandrum at 7:00 PM on May 15, 2010


This is actually kinda better than being there in person...
posted by joeyjoejoejr at 7:08 PM on May 15, 2010


I can't view that, it would drain my battery!
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:09 PM on May 15, 2010 [5 favorites]


Thanks...

I've never been there... and this is neat...
posted by HuronBob at 7:21 PM on May 15, 2010


Here's a press release from Villanova which looks like it describes the same project.

"Several thousand digital photographs were taken with an advanced motorized camera rig and then digitally stitched together, color-corrected, and post-processed by Villanova team members to create a cubic panorama file that presents the Chapel in a three-dimensional projection. Tour visitors can zoom in for high-resolution views of the interior of the Chapel. The tour can be viewed over Internet connections with a variety of bandwidths."
posted by edwardvielmetti at 7:27 PM on May 15, 2010


I don't get it.

Maybe you had to be there.
posted by kozad at 7:43 PM on May 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


QUIET!
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:53 PM on May 15, 2010


I can't view that, it would drain my battery!

Phrased incorrectly. You have freedom from having your battery drained.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:26 PM on May 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


[this is good]

Yeah, my sense is that this is probably better than being there, based on what I've heard from people who were goaded through the room feedlot-style after queuing up for hours.
posted by killdevil at 8:34 PM on May 15, 2010


But I'll bet you still can't tell me what it smells like there....
posted by zeugitai_guy at 8:40 PM on May 15, 2010


I'll say it, too: this is actually better than being there. My big takeaway from the experience (aside from queuing up for hours before being goaded through) was the noise level of everyone talking and how every so often a guard would clap, causing the volume to drop precipitously before steadily rising again, over and over. Reminded me of being at the dump, where the seagulls would descend looking for food among the trash and then a cannon would fire scaring them back into the sky, briefly, over and over. Also, the Vatican has the most awesome collection of pagan sculpture. Go figure.
posted by fartknocker at 9:15 PM on May 15, 2010 [2 favorites]


I truly enjoy these VR photos and found a library of gems at panoramas.dk which is continually updated & they keep their archive alive.

My favorites are the underwater VRs as well as the few I have seen where you can click into another room (hyper links within the VR) that opens a whole new, yet continuous VR scene.

When I discovered these types of photos from far-away lands, I fell in love with the internet all over again.
posted by will wait 4 tanjents at 9:31 PM on May 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


Burhanistan: "God is a white man who sits on a pile of naked people?"

You should see the pile of dead people.
posted by klanawa at 10:07 PM on May 15, 2010 [3 favorites]


Threeway Handshake: "Child rapists sure got some pretty buildings."

You know, as much I find the abuse in Catholic Church abhorrent, I wish people would stop painting all priests as pedophiles.

I grew up Catholic, and although I am no longer practicing any sort of organised religion, I have to say the priests in my parish were awesome dudes, really down to Earth. One of my favourite priests even dropped an F-bomb on me once (off church grounds, mind you) just to see how I would react.

So can we cut it out with the blanket assessment of priests as perverts?
posted by bwg at 10:42 PM on May 15, 2010 [8 favorites]


Anyone else notice the copyright notice on the floor?
posted by bwg at 10:43 PM on May 15, 2010 [1 favorite]


Sistine Chapel tip for future travellers: There's a door at the back of the room, right hand side. You can see it in this panorama. If you go out that instead of the regular exit, you end up immediately beside St Peter's and can just climb the stairs and head in. As opposed to the regular exit, where (I believe) you end up back in the square and have to queue up again to get into the Basilica.

But yeah, this is definitely better than being there, as it's missing the throngs of people, the noise and the annoying guards.
posted by aclevername at 10:59 PM on May 15, 2010


Looks like an ostentatious shithole where pedos hang out to me...

Yeah, a building containing some of the greatest art the Western world has produced is a shithole. Gotcha!
posted by blucevalo at 11:04 PM on May 15, 2010


Oddly enough, I don't remember the massive lineups when I went through it in person years ago: what I remember is the difference in the colours. There was more nuance in the 'uncleaned' version.
posted by jrochest at 11:32 PM on May 15, 2010


Thank you so much - this is truly fantastic and, serendipity, at precisely the correct point in our art history class!
posted by speug at 12:01 AM on May 16, 2010


I dunno, looks awfully busy. Makes my head spin, and my neck hurt.
posted by Gungho at 5:50 AM on May 16, 2010


aetg...The cleaning revealed very bright and often stunning color under the centuries of soot and nastiness.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:23 AM on May 16, 2010


Does anyone know where I can find really high-res photos of any of the main sections of the Chapel ceiling?

Really high-res. Big enough to blow up to, you know... ceiling size?
posted by rokusan at 5:09 PM on May 16, 2010


Silenzio! Silenzio! No photo! NO PHOTO!
posted by John Shaft at 11:07 PM on May 16, 2010


Reminded me of being at the dump, where the seagulls would descend looking for food among the trash and then a cannon would fire scaring them back into the sky.

Wait... your dump has a freaking cannon?
posted by rokusan at 6:52 AM on May 17, 2010


Awesome! Thanks for posting...and yeah, better than being there. Easier on the neck and no jostling for position with the unwashed masses. (And yeah, the exit on the right is great, if it's open, and not reserved for special tour groups. But it's ok, got to see the Raphael in the Pinacoteca.)
posted by Bron at 5:28 PM on May 17, 2010


Ceiling of the local watering hole.
posted by zoinks at 6:16 PM on May 17, 2010




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