Are you passionate about history, the arts, and culture? Do you get excited when travelling because you get to explore another culture, its stories, interesting museums, and galleries? Congratulations, then you are a part of the global community of the culturally curious, and we have some great news! Three words for you: Google Cultural Institute.
The Google Cultural Institute is a non-profit initiative, launched by Google in 2011, right after the Google Art Project. Google worked hard to cooperate with cultural institutions and organizations worldwide in order to provide people all around the world with something truly amazing. The Google Cultural Institute allows you to enjoy art and history, and explore versatile virtual tours and cultural treasures, all in high definition – from your personal computer. Knowing that digitizing culture this way would indeed be magical, Google started the important process of making the global cultural heritage more accessible to everyone by using art cameras (specially designed cameras that capture paintings in high resolution) and a special tool that captures a 360 ° view and brings wonderful virtual exhibition tours to you. A specialized lab in Paris has been established in order to develop new technologies and find new, innovative ways to connect technology and art.
Browsing the world’s cultural heritage is made super easy with a filter search: you can browse by collection, medium, author, event, place, date, etc. Of course, you can also browse freely by scrolling down the home page. The content is divided into three main sections: Art, History, and Wonders. Exploring these sections will help you to find out more about diverse art from all over the globe, about different stories that somehow have fallen into the historical shadows, and about significant sites from cities all over the world. Also, by using storytelling tools and platforms, you can enjoy educational videos made by curators as well as maps, notes and historical overviews, all of which are extremely interactive. You can also get involved by participating in live ArtTalks – live streamed videos made by experts. It is a great opportunity for you to ask questions in real time and get to know the community. Upcoming talks can be seen here, but you can also browse YouTube to check out talks that you may have missed.
Another great thing about the Google Cultural Institute is the possibility of creating and managing your personal art collection using unlimited storage space. This way, you can have your favorite pieces in one place. You can also share them by publishing on various platforms.
The site also has a section with news that is regularly updated and provides information about exhibitions, discoveries, cultural events, etc. – so you will never miss what’s going on in the world.
If you are the type of person who is always on the run, Google thought of you, too! You can enjoy culture wherever you are via various apps that were created through collaboration between Google and partner institutions.
The Google Cultural Institute is an amazing, ongoing project that proves how technology is contributing to creating a global village, where times, cultures, and people are close as never before. Don’t miss a chance to experience what it feels like truly to be a part of this community, where over 6 milion items are just waiting to be explored by you!
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