>>> finally tonight, at a time when schools are culting back on funding for arts education, there's some good news. google is stepping into the breach with a project that is part google earth and part museum of art. but it's meant to bring art to us. the story from nbc's kate snow.
>> reporter: holly's third graders are on a field trip visiting a museum 5,000 mile as way in amsterdam.
>> you kind of see a lot of different textures.
>> reporter: google art project founder never had access to the world's great art.
>> there are a lot of american school children who will never come to the museum of modern art in new york.
>> well with, soon they'll be able to go to brazil, russia.
>> reporter: google has been mapping the world's museums after dark, 140 collections in 40 countries are online tonight. from greece to brazil. let's say you missed jackie kennedy's famous white house tour. now you can cruise by the famous picture of george washington with just a click. remember the scene from "ferris buehler's day off"? you get a better view than cameron ever did.
>> when we do it over here, zoom in here and just, you know, really quickly move to that exact same area, you start seeing the cracks and the brush --
>> despite how big the google art project is now, there are limits. this whole gallery is on the virtual tour, but right around the corner a room full of picassos you won't see online. moma hopes putting part of the collection online spurs more people to visit.
>> there's something that happens to you when you're in the presence of a real work of art.
>> even state of the art art is no substitute for the real thing. kate snow, nbc news, new york.
