The press conference announcing the partnership between IU and the Uffizi Gallery was held in front of this fresco, which was painted by the Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli. Beginning in the late 15th century, the fresco, titled “The Annunciation,” originally hung over the entrance of San Martino della Scala, a hospital situated in the main plaza of nearby Siena for those stricken with the plague.IU President Michael A. McRobbie announces a new partnership between IU and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, which calls for IU to digitize, in 3-D, the museum’s entire collection of Greek and Roman sculpture. From left to right are: Fabricio Paolucci, Uffizi curator of collections of classical antiquities; President McRobbie; Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt; and Bernie Frischer, IU professor of informatics and director of the university’s Virtual World Heritage Laboratory. IU President Michael A. McRobbie signs the agreement between IU and the Uffizi Gallery as Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt waits to add his signature.IU President Michael A. McRobbie and Uffizi Director Eike Schmidt shake hands after signing the agreement. The project between the Uffizi, one of the oldest and most renowned art museums in the world, and IU's Virtual World Heritage Laboratory will create high-resolution 3-D digital models of the Uffizi sculptures and make them freely available online by IU’s bicentennial in 2020. IU President Michael A. McRobbie (fifth from left), IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie (sixth from left), members of the IU delegation and colleagues from the gallery pose for a photo in The Tribuna of the Uffizi, which is an octagonal room that houses the famed “Venus de’ Medici” sculpture.Gaby Olshemski, IU First Lady Laurie Burns McRobbie, IU President Michael A. McRobbie and Matt McKain pose for a photo following the press conference at the Uffizi Gallery. The day before the press conference, the McRobbies ran into the two IU alumni who happened to be visiting the museum in Florence, Italy. McKain played soccer for IU, and Olshemski was on the IU Field Hockey team.IU President Michael A. McRobbie and the IU delegation visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, where a new partnership was formed. A cooperative agreement between IU and the Uffizi Gallery will result in an unprecedented initiative to digitize in 3-D the museum's entire collection of 1,250 pieces of irreplaceable Greek and Roman sculpture.
