Google's Art Project adds major world museums
Google Inc. has expanded its virtual tours to more than 150 of the world's major museums, featuring high-resolution close-ups of masterworks by Van Gogh, Rembrandt and Botticelli - but not the "Mona Lisa."
The latest additions that went online this month include the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and Jerusalem's Israel Museum. But the Louvre in Paris, home of the Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, hasn't taken part in the website, called Art Project.
Internet browsers can tour galleries from 40 countries - including the de Young Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - as they would neighborhoods on Google Street View. Google is seeking more partners in the United States, Europe and emerging markets. It says the service won't generate revenue, including through advertising, though it gave no figures.
"Everyone asks me if we have Leonardo's 'Mona Lisa,' " said Amit Sood, who heads the project. "We're talking to people from the Louvre. Maybe they'll be part of the next phase," he said of the world's most visited museum.
The Louvre press office declined to comment.
The Israel Museum already had the Dead Sea Scrolls online; they were viewed by 1 million visitors from more than 200 countries in about three days. The next step in collaboration was "almost a marriage of the moment," said James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum.
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