UNESCO World Heritage Sites have become closer. Now everyone who has access to the Internet can view them without leaving the house with the help of the service Google's Street View. This was possible thanks to an agreement between UNESCO and the corporation Google.

currently available to users 19 of the 890 sites inscribed on the UNESCO list. This Spanish attractions such as the old city of Santiago de Compostela, the old city of Caceres, a fortified city of Cuenca, the old town of Salamanca, the old city of Avila and the church outside its walls, the old city of Segovia and the Roman aqueduct, historic center of Toledo. With the help of Google's Street View you can also visit a virtual tour of the palace and park of Versailles, the banks of the Seine in Paris, the archaeological zones of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata, the historic center of Siena, the historic center of Urbino, the historical center of San Gimignano. You can see the windmills in Kinderdijk near-Elshaut (Netherlands) Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, the historic center of Český Krumlov and the historic center of Prague (Czech Republic), as well as megalithic monuments of Stonehenge, Avebury and the surrounding archaeological sites, and the Royal Botanical Gardens , Kew (United Kingdom).

All these objects are presented on the Internet at almost spherical panoramic images (360 degrees horizontally and 290 degrees vertically). The photos were taken with a camera attached to a specially equipped car, and then overlaid on satellite imagery of Google Maps' (sometimes this requires the imposition of up to several months).

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said: "UNESCO's partnership with Google gives everyone the opportunity to make a virtual tour of places of outstanding historical value, to expand their knowledge and participate in the preservation of these treasures».

«Monuments of cultural and natural heritage are irreplaceable source inspiration and admiration. This exciting project and we are enthusiastic about working with UNESCO to make the World Heritage universally accessible and useful for all ", - said Jessica Powell, Director of Communications and Public Relations, Google's South and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Later on the initiative of UNESCO Google specialists will conduct surveys and other World Heritage sites. First of all, supposed to capture hard-to-attractions, because then they will be able to admire the millions of people who themselves are unlikely to be able to visit it. Basically this facility in South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands.

Google, and UNESCO will also continue to work on other projects. In particular, using the services Google Maps, You Tube and Google Earth users to open online access to maps, texts and videos, telling us about the documents from the register "Memory of the World, languages, endangered, and the biosphere reserve by UNESCO.

Material prepared Ekaterina Guseva, AI

Source: whc.unesco.org , typo38.unesco.org , artinvestment.ru