When I was there, I was expecting the iconic god image to be huge but it was only a small part of the ceiling.<p>In fact, even though the ceiling takes most of the fame, my favorite painting was Michaelangelo's Last Judgement depicted in the altar wall:<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Michelangelo)" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Michelangelo...</a><p>The later-added fig leaves and robe parts do stand out which I thought was a shame. Lots of art in the Vatican museum have private parts which have been broken (in statues) or covered/painted over.<p>Another impressive point that stands out is that the ceiling is mostly flat. The painted arches and columns give it an amazing 3D look.
Having never been there, I was pretty interested in using the site to discover the Chapel... until 4-5 minutes in and the Flash still wasn't fully pre-loaded on my 50 Mbit connection!<p>While the final size of the download might remain the same in the end, only loading the requested zoom level à la Google Maps instead would give it a way more acceptable "instant-like" feeling. Pre-loading the entire thing before users can interact is just plain bad usability.<p>If it wasn't a famous landmark, I would have left the site within 30 seconds. Still, I applaud the initiative and am happy to have seen the place in such details!
It seems so small. For those of you that have actually been there, is it really small, or is the perspective just warped because of the medium through which I'm seeing it?
At Disney's Epcot Center some 13 years ago I remember they had virtual sistine chapel with a headtracking setup and 3d headset. The other people in the room could just watch on a projector.<p>I got to 'drive' it but we had to stop it early because some lady in the room was getting severe motion sickness from me flying around the room quickly. I guess she wasn't used to seeing things like that.
Looks like PixelCase technology, which has a similar styled aerial view of Australian cities: <a href="http://melbourne.com/" rel="nofollow">http://melbourne.com/</a> - and New York <a href="http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr/2009/newyork/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pixelcase.com.au/vr/2009/newyork/</a>