Inside the Australian War Memorial / Via Google Cultural Institute
The world will now be able to tour some of Australia’s most iconic public institutions from the comfort of their own homes, with the addition of numerous Australian galleries and museums to Google’s Cultural Institute.
Using the same Street View technology that is used in Google Maps and Google Earth, Google has begun digitally capturing 360-degree panoramic images of these galleries and museums, so viewers at home can take a detailed virtual tour.
Today Google’s Cultural Institute announced a new partnership with 14 museums and arts organisations around Australia, including the Australian War Memorial, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, the Art Gallery Of New South Wales, the National Gallery Of Australia as well as Bondi’s Sculpture by the Sea, the Sydney Biennale’s Cockatoo Island and the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.
Each of these partners have their collections and their building “digitally preserved” and presented online along with detailed information. According to the Google Australia blog, such artefacts include, a small Vietnamese fishing boat which carried refugees 6,000 kilometres to Australia with only a map from a schoolbook and a compass to guide them, and a portrait of late rock star Chrissy Amphlett.
Reports Fairfax, viewers also now have unprecedented access to the cockpit of the “G for George” Lancaster bomber, found in the Australian War Memorial’s Anzac Hall. This is an area otherwise not accessible to the public.
Other international institutions already featured on Google Cultural Institute include the Tate Modern, London’s National Gallery and Paris’ Musee D’Orsay.
See more at Google’s Cultural Institute.
