One of London’s best-known tourist attractions, the imposing St Paul’s Cathedral, has been captured on gigapixel camera for high-detail viewing from anywhere on the planet. It’s all part of the Google Cultural Institute project increasing access to world-renowned landmarks.
If you fancy a digital exploration of the cathedral, which was built in 1708 and is particularly notable for its dome reaching a height of 365 feet, you can now click through to enjoy the “digital exhibit” and, to be more precise, over a hundred new photographic views of the historical structure. These include ultra-high resolution interior photos and new Street View images.
Dr Heike Zech, senior curator at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, described Google’s project as “history repeating itself”. Wired quotes his explanation that, in Victorian Britain, “mosaics were created by arranging thousands of minuscule glass pieces to form the picture. These small pieces of glass are called tesserae, and work in exactly the same way as digital pixels”.
St Paul’s Cathedral is only one of 1,000 institutions – including another London landmark, the British Museum – across 70 countries that the Google Cultural Institute has so far captured.
