Virtual Museum By Sara Bustamante M

Would you like to visit plenty of museums without leaving your home?. Have you ever dreamed about meeting world’s most famous museums but it’s out of your budget?. A virtual museum is an online platform that anyone can visit. It´s completely free and the only thing the visitor needs is access to internet. They are designed as a physical museum, using pieces around a specific topic such as art, science, and natural history museums. They are usually created using 3D modeling and rendering: sometimes they are an exact copy of the museum however there is another kind of virtual museum which only exists online. These collections often include digital art because is easier showing them that way than exhibiting in a regular museum. Even though some of those museums only can be visited online, they are considered museums too because they have a collection, they are made to preserve knowledge, and anyone can visit them.

These virtual museums are very useful in art academies and schools, because it is an easy and didactic way of teaching about the most important pieces of art, history, biology, and etcetera. It is a good option for those who can’t go to a real museum because it is located in other country or even in other continent. Visitors don´t have to leave their houses and they don’t have to buy any ticket. They also don’t have to wait a lot of time to see a piece because there is no one else in the room: the whole museum is just for them. As it is a picture, pieces can be seen closer. Zooming them is very interesting because the visitor can observe textures and colors in a unique way which is not possible at physical museum.

Some traditional museologists disagree with this new kind of museum: they think as people have access to them for free, eventually physical museums will be emptier and their earnings will be smaller. Which means there would be downsizing. Also, they think there is another issue with virtual museums: interacting with other viewers is important to create the museum experience and it is the only thing virtual museums don’t have people.

For me, virtual museums are entertaining and interesting because everyone have chance to see many works of art and get a closer look. It makes people travel around the world and it gives visitors time traveling possibilities without leaving home. But I think virtual museums will never replace physical space; it´s like reading a digital book and reading an actual book: the environment is completely different. Virtual stuff are helpful but someday we will need to stop clicking, we will go outside and we will have to face real world again.