The Sistine Chapel

A complete campaign in gigapixel photography has been realized in the Sistine Chapel. The campaign lasted two months. More than 2.500 square metres of frescoes have been photographed. For the first time in history the masterpieces by Michelangelo and other great Renaissance artists have been entirely reproduced in scale 1:1.
Several gigapixel images (about 70), representing as many subjects, have been produced. To accomplish this result, about 26.000 photos have been shot in sequence and afterwards they have been stitched by using specific softwares. In this way it has been possibile to reach the desired enlargement: the life-sized dimension.
This result gives you the opportunity to observe the preservation of each painted artwork in all its minuscule details and, at the same time, to enjoy the overall view. As a matter of fact, gigapixel photography let you explore the image by shifting from the overview to the detail. You can therefore see every single brush stroke, every tiny crack, every detail of the execution and of the restoration of the frescoes.
This photo campaign is not only very useful as documentary research on the preservation of the artworks, but it also allowed the construction of an itinerant mobile structure in Mexico showing a full 1: 1 scale replica of the Sistine Chapel.

Further information
2.620 square metres of frescoes; 559 square metres of Ccsmatesque floor; 26.000 photographs; 1.000 hours of work; 22 Terabytes of data storage.
The wall of Michelangelo’s Last Judgement (22 X 11 meters) is a single 150 Gigabyte gigapixel photograph in 1:1 scale.
The gigapixel images of the Sistine Chapel are not published on this site because the exclusive rights belong to the Vatican Museums.