Virtually tour Kolkata's Victoria Memorial Hall via Google Art Project

Now people will able to experience the grandiosity of Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial Hall from the confines of their homes and offices. Thanks to the Google Art Project, millions of people across the globe will be able to virtually discover and explore the artworks housed in the iconic monument. The project, a collaboration between Google and some of the world’s finest and acclaimed art institutions, includes collections from the White House in Washington DC, Musee d’Orsay in Paris and the National Gallery in London among others. [caption id=“attachment_1248459” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  An artist had painting fans during an exhibition at the Victoria Memorial hall: AFP[/caption] Now, the sprawling 92-year-old Victoria Memorial Hall - a tribute to Queen Victoria conceived by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy of India - will become the third Indian museum or gallery to be showcased on the Google initiative beside 46 other museums from 40 countries. The others from India are the National Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi. “We have signed an agreement with Google and a team will soon visit us to shoot the video of the Hall. We will upload 120 artworks that are a part of the Hall’s art collection… we are hoping it will be on the platform by January,” the Hall’s curator Jayanta Sengupta told IANS. The cyber platform (christened the Google Institute of Culture) enables users to not only view high resolution images from various museums but also allows them to compile their own collection. Enthusiasts can also go for virtual walkthroughs to tour the galleries and exhibits. Besides, they can learn about the history, the artists and other details of the art-pieces. “It will showcase our collection globally and will be an upgraded experience…it will show the world what we are really about,” said Sengupta. IANS