It can often be true that an artistic experience is also a spiritual experience. It's not every exhibit, however, that lets you touch the hand of God.

On April 29, See Global Entertainment's traveling exhibition Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel opened at The Gateway. The walk-through experience features life-size reproductions of the 34 frescos painted on the ceiling and wall of The Vatican's Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo Buanarroti from 1508-1512 and 1536-1541. A 20-minute introductory video also provides historical context regarding Michelangelo's creative process, and amusing anecdotes involving Michelangelo's patron, Pope Julius II.

According to Kevin Olson, a spokesperson for See Global, the exhibition was born when the company's CEO, Martin Biallas, took a trip to The Vatican and the Sistine Chapel a decade ago, and found the experience disappointing. "You have to wait in line for a couple of hours," Olson says, "and then you are ushered in in an organized tour group for about 15 minutes, and you can't take any photos. He felt it was very impersonal."

In response, Biallas began the process of finding out if he could secure the rights to a tour that would bring visitors into a more up-close-and-personal experience with the works, though it required a bit of a detour. "We ended up going through Bridgeman Images, because The Vatican, that process was taking forever," says Sylvia Noland, business development director for See Global. "Bridgeman said, 'We have the images from The Vatican.' So we do our licensing with them for the use of these."

What began as a single touring show seven years ago has since grown to 10 separate full shows that are on tour at any given time, five in the United States and five internationally. Each exhibition space requires at least 10,000 square feet, but due to the unique dimensions of any individual exhibition space, the visitor experience can be quite different from city to city.

According to Noland, the available space at The Gateway provides a particularly compelling way for visitors to encounter the work. "Every turn, you see something new. Here you see the prophets, then you turn and see the ancestors of Christ, then another turn, and you see the Genesis [section], then you turn and see 'The Last Judgment.'"

The experience of walking through the exhibit provides an incredible opportunity to learn about this celebrated work beyond the best-known image of God creating Adam through barely separated fingers. An audio component allows for detailed historical perspectives on each piece, including the possible reasons for their positions within the whole ceiling, like the prophet Zechariah being immediately above the Chapel's entrance as possibly related to his vision about Jesus' Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem. And there are wonderful details that bring the works to life in a more personal way.

"In 'The Last Judgment,'" Olson notes, "Michelangelo actually portrayed and painted himself as one of the many characters in the last judgment. He did not believe he was worthy of ascending into heaven, so he paints himself in a position looking up and hoping for mercy, so he can get redemption."

Still, it's not surprising if the main draw of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel is "The Creation of Adam," that iconic image of a soaring, enrobed God reaching down towards the reclining first man. It's such a draw, in fact, that it necessitates a specific change in the way the images are presented. While most of the frescos line the walls of the exhibition, those from the Genesis cycle are generally suspended from the ceiling, allowing an approximation of the visitor experience to the Sistine Chapel.

"The Creation of Adam," however, is an exception, placed at foot level. And the reason, Noland says, is to really emphasize that up-close-and-personal experience Biallas was looking for.

"Because everybody wants to touch God's finger in a picture, you can't do that on the ceiling," Noland says with a laugh, "so we have to keep it down."

That kind of opportunity—different from being in the presence of the original in such a time-condensed fashion—is what the exhibit was designed to facilitate. "It's fascinating when you go and see these [images at the exhibition], because they look like a postage stamp when you look up at The Vatican," Noland says. "They seem so tiny. This way, you get to see ... the cracks in the plaster. You can see every brushstroke."