The Vatican City has launched AI-enabled services for St. Peter’s Basilica, enabling virtual access to its Renaissance-era architectural treasures for all. The enhanced tour experiences were unveiled in time for the Catholic Church’s Holy Year or Jubilee celebrations in 2025, which come around every quarter of a century.

“St. Peter’s is like a starry sky on a summer night: you remain enchanted by its splendor,” said St. Peter’s archpriest Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, enthusing that the new tools would act like a telescope or spaceship for better viewing.

In collaboration with tech firm Microsoft and Iconem, a company that specializes in the digitalization of heritage sites, the Vatican launched a new interactive website, a digital replica of the basilica, and two AI-enabled exhibitions.

A 3D model of St. Peter’s Basilica was created by scanning the structure with drones, cameras, and lasers. AI algorithms assembled, refined, and finalized the collected data.

Over the course of four weeks, drones flew nightly, capturing more than 400,000 images and amassing data equivalent to a 6-kilometer-tall stack of DVDs. This digital twin of the basilica will also play a crucial role in future preservation and restoration efforts.

“We are taking St. Peter’s not just to the world but to a new generation of people, in a language that is more accessible for the times we live in,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said.