Until this, I thought the only painting was on the ceiling. Wow, I need to travel. Was just reading another thread about logo design, and then I look at this..
So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling; seen that.
Great movie that I just had to quote. I really hope to visit the chapel someday, and this site only reinforces my desire.
It's extremely busy in the chapel and you will have no time to smell anything. The guards will also try to keep the masses moving along, so there is very little left of the serene atmosphere you expect. That being said, it's still very beautiful.
Beat me to it. Italy is one of the most touristed countries in the world and the Sistine Chapel is one of the most popular spots in the country.
If you have issues with crowded places, be prepared for this one as it is nearly always packed with people. What you'll smell is probably primarily body odour and what you'll hear is yabbering tourists, and guards telling people off for taking photos.
On our family visit to Rome in 2000 (10 people! the logistics! don't remind me ;-), we got a private tour of the Sistine chapel, since my brother knew someone who had pull at the museum. No rush. Fantastico.
The interface is clunky. I don't like how the format is "the farther you are away from the point you started on, the more you accelerate." I prefer to have my mouse cursor stuck to one location, which I can then move around.
Click the "M" at the bottom left of the viewer to change to a Google Maps-style drag interface. (not the most obvious of buttons to click, either, but it's there!)
Mouse over method seems to work the best and allowed me to see what I wanted to see without the camera zipping in one direction because I moved the mouse a little out of center.
I wish they would have mapped the images to a 3D rendition of the chapel. It's not overly complex that it couldn't be done.
It would fix the distortion issues present when you're not staring at the artwork at 100% zoom.
Can't say I've spent much time on vatican.va and from a quick look at the site, it's not obvious... is anyone aware of any similar work done by the Vatican to make this sort of thing available online?
Clunky or not, it still gives people who have never had a chance to see the chapel in person a perspective of how much beautiful art and history there is packed in this one little place.
Now on a side note, I must have came late in the day because I definetly do not remember it being that bright in the chapel when I went.
