Monday, the Vatican unveiled a stunning website that offers a virtual tour of the Lateran Basilica.
CNS has details:
The Vatican Web site celebrated the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran by launching a virtual tour of the Rome church -- thanks to Villanova University in Pennsylvania.And there are more tours to come:
The virtual tour -- giving cybernauts a high-resolution, 360-degree view of the basilica -- went online at www.vatican.va Nov. 9, the feast of the dedication of the basilica, which is the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome.
Bryan Crable, chairman of the communication department at the Catholic university in Villanova, Pa., said the virtual tour of St. John's -- and earlier tours of St. Peter's Basilica and the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls -- was the brainchild of Paul Wilson, a professor in the department.
"Although he proposed this idea two years ago, it took some time for it to become approved and for us to assemble the equipment necessary to carry out the project," Crable said in an e-mail to Catholic News Service.
The equipment included digital cameras, computers, "cutting-edge software" and a very expensive "motorized rig, which can precisely regulate the movements of a camera" so that the more than 300 flat photographs overlap and can be edited into a video, Crable said.
The tour of St. John Lateran is only a small part of a monumental project in which a team of Villanova University professors and students photographed the Sistine Chapel, the newly resorted Pauline Chapel, the Basilica of St. Mary Major and the Necropolis of St. Rosa.Check out the tour. It's fascinating. (Not yet, it seems, in English, but you get the idea...)
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
This is awesome. I wish more American churches had half the beauty of this. Europe is blessed with wonderful cathedrals that put one in the spirit of prayer and meditation.
Yes, it is quite awesome, and still more to come. I'm a Villanova student (and in formation with the Augustinians, who teach at Villanova), and one of my professors is working on this project with them, and was in Rome over Fall break to finish this leg of the project. They're doing a truly phenomenal job.
There is wide type difference between virtual and original tour enjoyment.
Rome is quite good place to visit and enjoy the small and big streets.Europe is blessed with wonderful cathedrals.I want to say that Vacation should be there to cities of Rome.I want to know suggestion from others.
English SIte:
http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_giovanni/vr_tour/index-en.html
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.