Thanks To Google, Here's A Free Tour Of The Art Institute
By John Dodge
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Welcome to the Art Institute, your tour begins now.
We'll start off in the Modern Wing and feel free to proceed to different parts of the building at your leisure.
Sweep into a room filled with Buddhist sculpture or slide over to a room of paintings by Impressionist masters.
Oh, and it's all free.
Google, which first amazed us with satellite images of our backyards, then kind of freaked us out with street view, is offering similar imagery inside and outside major Chicago museums and landmarks.
There is a photo tour of Cloud Gate, images of North Michigan Avenue and more.
However, the inside of the Art Institute is somewhat of a show-stopper.
There is more. Google has a Cultural Institute, that offers views of museums and collections worldwide, from the Louvre in Paris, to the British Museum in London, to the MoMA in New York.
The first exhibits went online in the fall of 2012 and the collection has expanded to millions of pieces since then.