Africa's Ancient Art Included in Google's Virtual Museum

Lovers of art can now explore the mystic ancient African art and sculptures at the comfort of their desk thanks to Google's amazing virtual museum.

Launched last year, the Google Art Project initially brought 1,000 images from nine countries online, allowing art fans to explore the high resolution images at the click of the button. The Art Project has rapidly expanded to include 30,000 artworks from 46 museums across the world, including the Tate Gallery in London, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City and Uffizi museum in Florence.

Works of art available online include world renowned artiste Vincent van Gogh, Hans Holbein the Younger and Vittore Carpaccio.

Now African art will be included in the virtual museum, allowing users to take virtual surreal tours of partner museums and get details of the artworks on display. The walk-through feature on the art project uses Google's Street view technology. "We are particularly excited to have collaborated with the Rock Art Research Institute in Johannesburg and with the South African National Gallery in Cape Town," announced Google Africa in a blog post.

Google has upgraded the art site (www.googleartproject.com) to include G+ integration, hangouts, personalized art galleries and more educational features. "The Art Project is no longer just about students in Africa and Asia wanting to visit, for example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. It is now also about the American students wanting to explore African artistic heritage," said Google