Due to gigapixel scanning technology, it is now possible to view in detail one of the world's most beautiful places from any computer: the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, painted by Italian renaissance artist, Giotto.
...It's an opportunity to observe details such as the tears of mothers shed during the massacre of the innocents.
...Peter's aggression to the servant Malchus during Jesus' arrest.
...or the face of Jesus at the Last Judgment, in a fresco that is over 20 meters tall.
This series of frescoes painted more than 700 years ago is considered a masterpiece of Western art.
It took Giotto nearly three years to complete them, between 1303 and 1306, and he was helped by about 40 people.
To digitize them, the Italian company Haltadefinizione took 14,000 photographs of the chapel. It took a year to process them all.
The result is impressive.
Now it is possible to see Judas' kiss up close...
And the scene of the mocking of Jesus...
Or the image of God the Father as he explains to the archangel St. Gabriel the message he must convey to Mary.
It's a moving work of art, and an opportunity to better understand the faith, and enjoy the mastery of the Florentine genius Giotto.
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