Microsoft teams up with the Vatican to bring an AI experience of St Peter’s Basilica to the masses

• A new AI exhibition lets you visit the Vatican online for free
• The collaboration uses AI and photogrammetry to preserve St Peter’s Basilica
• The project is in celebration of the 2025 Holy Year Jubilee

Microsoft has teamed up with the Vatican to bring St Peter’s Basilica online using the power of AI, enabling people anywhere in the world to visit the famous religious site without leaving home.

The La Basilica di San Pietro experience is a collaboration between the Vatican, Iconem (a startup specializing in the digitalization of cultural heritage sites), and Microsoft, allowing unprecedented access to the Vatican City’s most famous church. Visitors will have access to two AI-enabled immersive exhibits of the Basilica and an interactive website.

The project is in celebration of the 2025 Holy Year Jubilee and hopes to make the iconic structure and artwork more accessible worldwide. The official site says, “The Pétros enì exhibit will give the 35 million pilgrims in Rome an immersive, in-person experience of a lifetime, and it will also help more than a billion Catholics unable to make the trip feel like they’re in the moment.”

At the time of writing, the link to access the AI version of St Peter’s Basilica requires a Microsoft work or school account, but we expect access to be expanded sooner rather than later and will update this article in due course.

The launch trailer shows the work that has gone into recreating the incredible landmark using AI and photogrammetry, and it’s seriously impressive. Iconem, a company focused on digital preservation, was able to use AI and advanced photogrammetry (using 2D images to create a 3D model) to create an incredibly…