To help the Holy See manage tourist flows and identify conservation issues, the Vatican and Microsoft unveiled a ‘digital twin’ of St. Peter’s Basilica—an AI-generated model of the Basilica—on November 11.
The digital twin utilizes artificial intelligence to explore one of the most significant monuments in the world. The replica is being made available online along with two new on-site exhibitions to give visitors—both real and virtual—an interactive experience.
It was created using 400,000 high-resolution digital photos that were shot over four weeks when no one was in the basilica using drones, cameras, and lasers.
“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 told a Vatican press conference.
In addition to the 50,000 visitors that visit the basilica on a typical day, the project has been launched ahead of the Vatican’s 2025 Jubilee, a holy year during which over 30 million people are anticipated to enter via the Holy Door.
Pope Francis told Smith and the project’s development teams at an audience on Monday that “everyone, really everyone, should feel welcome in this great house.”
Since the basilica is one of the most visited monuments in the world and frequently has an hour-long line of people waiting to enter, the digital platform allows visitors to reserve entry times.
The project’s main goal is to use artificial intelligence and sophisticated photogrammetry to create a digital clone of St. Peter’s Basilica so that anybody can “visit” the building and discover more about its history.
According to Smith, the incredibly accurate 3D replica, which was created in partnership with the digital preservation from Iconem, has 22 terabytes of data — enough to fill five million DVDs.
Pope Francis has advocated for ethical use of AI and in this year’s annual World Message of Peace, he urged an international agreement to control it, claiming that the technology’s absence of human values—such as mercy, forgiveness, morality, and compassion—was too significant.
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