Minecraft reimagines Vatican (in pixel)

Microsoft is using AI and Minecraft to recreate St. Peter’s Basilica, letting students restore history one pixel at a time while learning the power of digital preservation.

A student steps back in time into the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica. Their challenge is to restore elements of the church that need to be brought into the 21st century.

Thanks to Microsoft and Minecraft, Peter is Here: AI for Cultural Heritage has it slap-bang, right there in the name.

The pixelated graphic works wonders, as students can complete tasks such as repairing a column or restoring a mosaic tile.

As someone who had conflated feelings about how history was taught in school, I wish we had had this instead of Mr. Curtis chalking up political dates about Oliver Cromwell on the blackboard.

The cynics among us might doubt the role of AI in regenerating history. But the problem here is with the word “regenerate.” As we’ve seen time and time again with ChatGPT and the like – it’s lost its oomph.

How about we think of it like breathing new life into an archaic discipline? If an AI-powered restoration of a painting by Valentin de Boulogne on the Baslica’s walls leaves you with a feeling of stimulation, then there’s certainly life in the old dog (of history) yet.

Holy shift in learning

When platforms like TikTok are getting all the flack for the youth's short attention spans, it’s gratifying to feel that tech can actually give something back.

Not everyone can fly to Italy and enter the Vatican – actually a different country – at the drop of a hat, so school excursions can potentially teleport students into a phantasm of cultural heritage.

When books and artifacts are often deemed to be from “the old world,” we may now have a solution.

Pixel perfect pilgrimage

Minecraft’s “blocky” aesthetic doesn’t take anything away from the authenticity of St. Peter’s Basilica. A technique called photogrammetry was used to capture the church from all angles.

Then, AI algorithms processed the data and rendered a 3D model of the Basilica, even the glints of light on its marble interior – to create what’s known as “a digital twin” of architecture.

Microsoft collaborated with the French startup Iconem, which created digital replicas of historical sites, including the Tomb of Tutankhamun and the Great Wall of China. The result with St Peter's Basilica is legit.

When lots of us have probably cranked out plenty of AI paintings in the past – I’m personally a sucker for DALL-E paintings “in the style of Francis Bacon” – but you can bet that the image won’t be artistically faithful.

In Peter is Here, however, there is nothing bastardized or sub-par.

And, as many educators bemoan the lack of teamwork among Generations Z and Alpha, the co-op dynamic and peer-dependence qualities can be strengthened in a student.

So, as Minecraft pulls off another gamified success, it’s not just the Vatican that’s been restored but our approach to education in a digital world.