The Gemaeldegalerie Alte Meister of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Germany) recently opened a virtual clone: the museum can be visited online in Second Life®. The magnificent rooms of the museum have been reproduced in three dimensions and true to scale, and all 750 masterpieces in the exhibition are on display (figg. 1-2). The doors are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Visitors can view the art, chat with each other, access information about the works of art, participate in art education events, note their impressions in the guestbook or browse in the shop – all in real time. Since the opening at the end of May 2007 nearly 40.000 users have visited the virtual museum. The virtual Old Masters Picture Gallery is located on the “Dresden Gallery” island, which has a surface area of more than 300,000 square metres. A homepage has been created specially for this project: www.dresdengallery.com. The homepage has a link whereby members of the Second Life community can beam themselves directly to the museum. To do this you have to have a persona, known as an avatar, in Second Life (free of charge with the basic account).

Leggi Predella n.23