Google's new "Cultural Institute" allows you to take virtual tours of art galleries, view curated collections of art, explore historic moments, and visit wonders of the world.
The site is highly interactive, and is a great resource for student-centered activities across the curriculum. The collections have been curated by well-known museums, galleries, and national institutions, and the interface and user experience is very slick.
The site also allows you to create your own curated galleries of art works, historic documents and images, and create presentations.
Some of my favorites in a brief tour of the site included:
- A virtual tour of Stonehenge (get up way closer to the stones than any physical visitor)
- A virtual tour of Scott's hut in Antarctica (much bigger than I thought)
- A virtual tour of the Doge's Palace in Venice (a little gaudy, but still impressive).
