Vatican Used 400,000 Photos to Create Digital Twin of St Peter’s Basilica

Interior of St. Peter’s Basilica

400,000 photographs were used to create an AI-generated digital version of St. Peter’s Basilica, the 400-year-old Vatican City church considered central to Christianity.

On Monday, the Vatican and Microsoft Iconem unveiled a digital twin of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy — one of the world’s most famous and most visited churches.

The project was developed in collaboration with the French digital preservation startup Iconem using AI, photogrammetry, and digital preservation.

Through a new website, digital users can virtually “visit” St. Peter’s Basilica and explore immersive 3D tours of spaces in the church.

According to AP News, the project used 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs of St Peter’s Basilica, taken with drones, cameras and lasers over four weeks when no one was in the basilica. They then used advanced AI algorithms to piece together the data.

“It is literally one of the most technologically advanced and sophisticated projects of its kind that has ever been pursued,” Microsoft’s president Brad Smith tells a Vatican press conference.

The ultra-precise 3D replica, developed in collaboration with digital preservation company Iconem, incorporates 22 petabytes of data — enough to fill five million DVDs — Smith said.

Data from the photographs tallied to 22 petabytes. Smith says it would take almost 5 million DVDs to record all the data in the image trove.

Smith says that the virtual experience of the sacred site offers a new perspective, allowing viewers to “see parts of the Basilica that one cannot see,” and through the digital exhibit, visitors can access spaces usually out of reach, like the Roman tombs below and intricate artwork in the Basilica’s high dome.

The project has been launched ahead of the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee, a holy year in which more than 30 million pilgrims are expected to pass through the basilica’s Holy Door, on top of the 50,000 who visit on a normal day.

AP News reports that the project will allow the church to manage visitor flows and identify conservation problems in St Peter’s Basilica.

The 400,000 high-resolution digital photographs have already identified structural damage and signs of deterioration, such as missing mosaic pieces, cracks, and fissures invisible to the naked eye, with a speed and precision far beyond human capabilities.

 
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.