Virtual Touring

This post is somewhat beyond the scope of what I usually write about but since I had such an amazing experience I felt that I simply must pass it on. First of all I follow a blog named "Lines and Colors" which is an art blog maintained by a Philadelphia artist named Charlie Parker. It has been a very nice place to go to educate myself about art in general or at least expose my eyes to representations of fine art of all types. Mr. Parker has just posted an item called "Sistine Chapel Panorama" and it gives a link to a page where you can take a virtual tour of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome. I have heard about the Sistine Chapel all my life and have seen pictures of it and I have read articles about it. I resigned myself long ago that I would probably never get to see it in person and thus felt a little "left out" when talking to people who had "been there and done that". Now, however, thanks to this virtual tour I feel like I have "been there and done that" also.

To get to the Sistine Chapel Virtual Panorama page click HERE. You need to have Adobe Flash Player installed with your browser and if you don't have it you can download it HERE. It takes about a minute for the program to load and when it stops loading just start pushing the screen with your mouse pointer to navigate where you want to go in the Chapel. In the lower left corner there is a plus and and minus sign that you can click on to pan in or out and if you click on the "M" for "mouse" you will have an alternative method for moving around. The Chapel is empty of people and the experience is so real that you can almost hear your heels clicking on the marble floor. In fact, if you pan down to the floor and zoom in, you can see the detail just as good as if you were right there in person and bending over. If this virtual touring is the thing of the future then I am all for it. Just think of all the places that we will be able to see without leaving the comfort and security of our own homes, especially for kids, elderly people, and people of lesser means.

I left my virtual tour with a little sigh thinking that a little pressure had just lifted from me. Sure, we want to go everywhere and see everything and people who do that sometimes lead one to feel as if one is missing something essential. With all due respect to Pope Sixtus IV, Pope Julius II, and Michelangelo Di Lodovico Buanarroti Simoni (better known as just plain "Michelangelo") I think that we have works of art here in Mexico that are just as great. For me, the Cathedral at Puebla comes to mind. I have truly "been there and done THAT" in person and if you haven't "SO THERE!". Anyway, I look forward to seeing more virtual tours like this and my hat is off to Charley Parker for letting me know about this one. I encourage everyone to visit his "Lines and Colors" and see what else that you may be missing.

Click on picture to enlarge.