The city of Pompeii is now available in Google Street View

Pompeii - One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, the ancient Roman Pompeii, can now be explored and virtually walked through thanks to the Street View service on Google Maps. This was reported today by various web servers. The Italian Ministry of Culture hopes this project will boost tourism in the country.
    The archaeological site of Pompeii, which was preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, attracts more than 2.5 million visitors each year. However, it is expected that this number will increase even more due to the online presentation.
    "The opportunity to virtually walk among the archaeological monuments in Pompeii represents an extraordinary promotional tool for Italian tourism," stated Mario Resca from the Ministry of Culture, according to the telegraph.co.uk website.
    According to Carlo d'Blond Asaro, the representative director of Google's Italian section, such a presentation of Pompeii gives millions of people the chance to appreciate this unique global cultural heritage up close. "Italy's artistic and cultural ownership is so important that the entire world should have the opportunity to appreciate it," he declared.
    The Google Maps service was launched in 2007 and currently provides panoramic views of over 100 cities around the world, including Prague. Besides Pompeii, those interested in archaeology can also closely explore the British Stonehenge on their screens.