I went to visit the Sistine Chapel in SL yesterday. The insides are quite beautiful and a very close match to the original, from memory. It is well worth a visit, although the hypercritical among you will notice some ugly seams and breaks between prims.

However, this build, associated with Vassar College, is producing an interesting debate on the SLED list as well. Just what are the rights for creating duplcates of RL buildings in SL? The answer seems to be no one is quite sure and you'd have to take each case on a case by case basis. The art in the chapel must be out of copyright by now, hasn't Michelangelo been dead for 450 years or so? Whilst I'm not a catholic, I can imagine the Vatican being less than impressed, especially if you get random nude avies, or perhaps worse 'sexy nuns' portraying sexual acts on the floor - all too easy in SL (even if likely to get you a ban if you're caught).

Whilst not quite the impact they expected, I'm sure, a nicely unexpected educational debate, and one with much wider reaching ramifications for those of us that aim at recreating real life builds in SL.