The Uffizi Digitisation ProjectFans of ancient sculpture may now be able to view some of their favourites without having to travel to Italy. The world-renowned Uffizi Gallery in Florence has collaborated with Indiana University's Virtual World Heritage Laboratory (VWHL) to create the Uffizi Digitization Project, which aims to digitize in 3D "the complete collection of Greek and Roman sculpture in the Uffizi, Pitti Palace, and Boboli Gardens." This five-year project began in 2016 and its website was made publicly available earlier this month. As of this writing, the Uffizi Digitization Project contains over 300 sculptures and fragments. Readers will find an easy-to-navigate interface whose high-quality 3D models allow viewers to rotate and zoom closer to pieces, and even look inside them in the case of works such as the Philosopher Sarcophagus. Each 3D model is accompanied by information identifying and characterizing the depicted artwork, as well as "paradata" about the 3D model itself, including the camera and lenses used to photograph it and the name of the photographer. The Uffizi Digitization Project is co-directed by Bernard Frischer, Professor of Informatics at Indiana University and Director of the VWHL, and Fabrizio Paolucci, Curator of Classical Art and Coordinator of Scientific Activities at the Uffizi.
