During the pandemic, most of the monuments of history and culture, museums and galleries were forced to close. The good news is that many of them are available online, and during the forced isolation, several more new virtual tours have appeared. We present a selection of five excursions.
La Tourette Monastery, designed by Le Corbusier
Spirit of Space, a small film studio from Milwaukee, has been filming a short film about architecture and design for almost 15 years: the film crew already has more than 200 films. The team's new work is dedicated to the La Tourette Monastery, one of the last buildings of Le Corbusier. In a four-minute clip, "architectural filmmakers" show the building itself and the surrounding space.
The monastery for Dominican monks was built in 1961 near Lyon. "Rough" concrete surfaces, clean lines and "outstanding design solutions" - this is how the Le Corbusier Foundation describes the monastery. In the plan, the complex is a rectangle, traditional for a Western Christian monastery, with a "cloister" in the center: the church is erected on a hillside, the other three sides are formed by cell buildings placed on high piles to level the relief drop.
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zooming 1/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the Spirit of Space studio
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zooming 2/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the studio Spirit of Space
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zooming 3/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the Spirit of Space studio
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zooming 4/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the Spirit of Space studio
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zooming 5/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the Spirit of Space studio
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zooming 6/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the Spirit of Space studio
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zooming 7/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the Spirit of Space studio
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zooming 8/8 La Tourette Monastery Image from the film by the Spirit of Space studio
The light in the interior has a sacred meaning and serves as a kind of "guide" to the monastery. Each room has its own “tonality”, pattern and intensity of illumination; the sun's rays enter the halls through "light cannons" in the ceiling and openings of various shapes in the walls. "The light was felt so strong that it was almost heard," - this is how Redmike, one of the members of Spirit of Space, describes his acquaintance with the architectural monument.
The members of the creative team tried to convey their impressions in the video - with the help of scenes shot in long frames, nonlinear editing and musical accompaniment. For the soundtrack, the studio chose one of the works of Janis Xenakis, a French avant-garde composer of Greek origin. By his first education, he was an architect and engineer and worked in the workshop of Le Corbusier, including on the La Tourette project.
Museum collection of the Center Pompidou
The Paris Center for Culture and Art has released a game that allows you to remotely "inspect" a part of the museum's collection and, in general, learn more about contemporary art.
Prisme7 includes an introductory level and six main ones - they symbolize various "universes [intended] for the exploration of virtual spaces," explain the authors of the project - the creative agency Game in Society and the Bright website, a "market platform" in the field of digital art.
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zooming 1/4 Pompidou Center Project - Prisme7 Screenshot from the game Prisme7
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zooming 2/4 Pompidou Center Project - Prisme7 Screenshot from the game Prisme7
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zooming 3/4 Pompidou Center Project - Prisme7 Screenshot from the game Prisme7
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zooming 4/4 Pompidou Center Project - Prisme7 Screenshot from the game Prisme7
Of the 60,000 museum exhibits, four dozen are "involved" in the toy, including the sculpture "Rhino" by Xavier Veyant, the painting by Pete Mondrian "New York I", the painting by Andy Warhol "The Big Electric Chair" and even the "invention" by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano: Beaubourg's outdoor infrastructure of colored pipes. Moving around the virtual world of Prisme7, solving puzzles and completing tasks, the player opens more and more art objects that become part of his personal collection.
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zooming 1/3 Pompidou Center Project - Prisme7 Screenshot from the game Prisme7
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zooming 2/3 Pompidou Center Project - Prisme7 Screenshot from the game Prisme7
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zooming 3/3 Pompidou Center Project - Prisme7 Screenshot from the game Prisme7
It must be said that the character in the game is not the usual "unit" or anthropomorphic character, but a certain entity, similar to a flux of light. Prisme7 is designed for adults and children from 12 years old and is available on mobile devices (iOS, Android) and a stationary computer.
Frank Lloyd Wright's legacy
Non-profit organizations that are engaged in the preservation of F. L. Wright, in April launched virtual tours of homes designed by the great architect. You can "wander" around Wright's key buildings without leaving social networks: short video excursions lasting 4-5 minutes are published on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. New episodes appear every Thursday, all videos can be found using the hashtag #WrightVirtualVisits.
During the excursion, experts talk about the history of the building, its features and later modernization measures. For example, the owner of Malcolm Willie's home in Minneapolis showed how he managed to fit the new air conditioning system into the historic interior. At the moment, the project covers 25 key structures of F. L. Wright; the list of participants is periodically updated, you can see it here. The same page contains a selection of online tours for those who are not registered in social networks. The project will end on July 15th.
LEGO House by BIG
The Google Maps service has opened access to the "Lego House" created by the "star" bureau BIG. The "Experience Center" with play areas and exhibition halls appeared three years ago in the homeland of the legendary brand - in Danish Billund. The roofs of the individual blocks that make up the complex serve as play terraces (there are nine in total).
Google Maps allows you to walk around the surroundings of this entertainment center, climb the play terraces and even get into the exhibition halls - there is a charge to enter there during “normal times”. Note that LEGO House was closed for quarantine, but will open its doors again on June 22.
"Double House" by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera
Another virtual tour from Google Maps in our selection is the "double house" in Mexico City, where the married couple of artists - Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived.
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Image 
zooming 1/4 House-Museum of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera in San Angel, Mexico City License CC BY-SA 3.0
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zooming 2/4 House of Frida Kahlo Posted by Enriquesrz. CC BY-SA 4.0
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zooming 3/4 Diego Rivera House Posted by Enriquesrz. CC BY-SA 4.0
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zooming 4/4 Staircase connecting two houses By Enriquesrz. CC BY-SA 4.0
The house was built in 1931 by the young architect Juan O'Gorman, who was on friendly terms with the famous couple. It consists of two independent buildings, symbolically connected by a bridge: the red and white painted volume belonged to Rivera, and Kahlo lived in a cobalt blue building. Such a dwelling allowed the spouses to be together, while maintaining the autonomy necessary for the creative personality. The "Double House" in the San Angel area is considered one of the first buildings in Latin America in the mainstream of modernism.
Today, it houses a museum, which houses the works of artists, their personal belongings and a collection of art objects that the couple collected all their lives. You can view the exhibits using the Google Maps service.
