This resource presents a three-dimensional reconstruction of Meru Nyingpa Monastery that allows users to explore the spatial layout of a Tibetan monastery and its relationship to religious activities and artwork. You can walk throughout the monastery and view descriptions and photos of each room or space in the entire complex. Using your mouse or trackpad, you can direct your movements to explore each room. Depending on the browser and plugin, you can also select rooms from a drop-down list and then move around that room, and depart from it.
Installation:
A viewer plugin is necessary to view this three-dimensional reconstruction of Meru Nyingpa Monastery
in Lhasa. If the frame on the left does not load the entrance to the monastery (give it some time
if you have a slow connection – this is an entire monastery!), you probably need to install a
viewer.
For Windows users, the ParallelGraphics Cortona plugin works for both Firefox and IE browsers. For Firefox, one needs to go to the download page at: http://www.cortona3d.com/Products/Cortona-3D-Viewer.aspx. For Internet Explorer, the plug-in will download automatically if granted permission.
There are presently no adequate plug-ins for Mac users, though Apple claims to have its own VRML plug-in at: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/freewrlvrmlx3dviewer.html.
Instructions:
Once you are at the entrance to the monastery, you may “walk” through the grounds, enter the main
temple, even go upstairs and examine the rooms. Navigate your way by moving the mouse while
clicking and holding. If you click on the blue wheels that appear in
various places, pictures, audio, and video of Meru Nyingpa will appear in this frame.
In the buttons on the left of the screen, click “fly” to roam through the features and “study” for a bird’s-eye view along several axes! At the bottom of the screen, click “view” for a series of 13 different views. Click the “restore” button at the bottom to bring you back to the entrance (or refresh your browser).