Thursday, February 28, 2013

Papal States: The Vatican Museums Collections Online

With the Pope's resignation looming, now is an interesting time to look at what the Vatican's museums are doing online.  But first - did you know that the Vatican had an extensive museum system?  That was certainly news to me, although I guess that all the wealth and objects they've accumulated (taken?) over the centuries had to go somewhere.  And, considering that this Pope decided to get on Twitter, it makes sense for the Vatican's collections to have an online presence.  Surprisingly, for an institution that is very old and sometimes seems to be stuck in the past, the Vatican's virtual museum is quite impressive.

Unlike the Louvre, whose online museum I've written about previously, the Vatican seems to have given many of its physical collections a home on the web.  There are ten different collections that can be accessed online, and each of these collections is housed among a number of rooms.  Most rooms, in turn, have several different artifacts that can be viewed, which means that in total there are hundreds of objects to look at.  Some of the Vatican's most prominent holdings, like the frescos in the Sistine Chapel, are gathered in a "Not to Be Missed" section.

In addition, each collection, each room and each object is accompanied by text that is informative but not too long-winded (the individual objects also have their curatorial information presented).  This all adds up to a lot of beautiful images and a digestible and interesting amount of information about what and why the Vatican has all these things.

My only quibble with this virtual museum is that it's not so easy to navigate.  I suppose this has to do with how many layers it contains, and how many objects there are to work your way through.  Sometimes, though, it gets a little illogical trying to find your way around - for example, if you click on the "Virtual Visit of This Room" feature that some rooms have, all you get is a tiny, useless floor plan.

All in all, though, this online museum is pretty impressive, especially considering how old-fashioned and hidebound the Vatican often seems.  Although it makes me a little squeamish to think about how these objects were acquired, the fact remains that they are impressive artifacts and highly accessible to web audiences.  I never thought I would say this, but the Vatican seems to be one of the leaders in online museum collections.


The Vatican Museums Online Collections
Website:  mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Visite.html

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