All news

Moscow aerial panoramas available online

The photographs are samples of the most difficult and cutting-edge sphere of artistic photography, spokesman highlighted

MOSCOW, December 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Lovers of city landscapes can now enjoy Moscow views in maximum close-up. A virtual tour of 107 spherical panoramas of Moscow was launched at 10am on Monday on AirPano.ru - the work of photographers supported by the Russian Geographical Society.

The photographs are samples of the most difficult and cutting-edge sphere of artistic photography. “These are rotating spherical panoramas,” coordinator Sergey Semyonov told Itar-Tass.

“You are at one point and may look around, rotating the picture, changing the lookout angle, zooming certain areas in and out.”

It looks strange on a mobile device, Semyonov says, but the effect is amazing on a larger screen - on TV or a 27-inch monitor, he says. The viewer feels the effect of participation as in being aloft above the place where the shooting took place, he adds.

Users will be able to enjoy the sights of the clock and the star atop the Kremlin’s Spasskaya Tower, the domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Ivan the Great Bell Tower. Stalin skyscrapers will be there to view, along with Moscow's International House of Music, the Bolshoi Theatre and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

A famous Soviet landmark, the Worker and Kolkhoz Woman, the Peter the Great monument, the Nike statue in the Victory Park on the Poklonnaya Hill and Yuri Gagarin's monument are within the viewer’s reach.

From an unusual angle, as if flying above the city, the viewer watches the Moscow State University’s main building, the historical area of Kitay-gorod, Kolomenskoye museum estate and many other Moscow attractions shot in different seasons.

Each panorama includes no less than 14 photographs, all shot from a radio-controlled unmanned six-motor and six-rotor Hexacopter helicopter with a professional camera installed. Co-ordinator Semyonov said they usually shot views in different ways, also from aircraft and airships.

Eight photo-artists have taken part in the project, some acting as programmer and ‘pilot’, namely the helicopter operator.

The website, offering more than 1,500 bird’s eye views of more than 150 famous destinations such as the North Pole, the Antarctic, Mount Everest, major capitals and UNESCO heritage objects, is financed by the photographers themselves but the Moscow project has been implemented thanks to a geographical society grant.

You can find the panoramic photo tour of Moscow by following this link.