Santa Casa Da Misericórdia De Lisboa (SCML) Goes Into The Metaverse

LISBON, PORTUGAL - DECEMBER 03: A 17th century reliquary of the Holy Thorn of Christ's Crown is seen on display at the ancient museum and Church of São Roque, depending of Santa Casa Da Misericórdia De Lisboa (SCML) and housing one of the most important religious collections in Catholic Europe, on December 03, 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal. SCML launched on the first week of December its first collection of the museum and church Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs), with all proceeds going to its social enterprise causes, based on ancient paintings celebrating the life of Saint Francis Xavier, a Navarrese Catholic missionary and saint who was a co-founder of the Society of Jesus in the 16th century. These NFTs include limited images of the painting and reliquaries associated with the saint. This is the first time in the world that NFTs of religious artifacts have been created by a museum. Saint Roch (Sao Roque) will also be the first church in a metaverse, a digital representation of the museum and church to be a digital twin of the physical buildings. A NFT is unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a digital ledger and can be a photo, video or other kind of digital data. Blockchain is the underpinning technology that gives the NFT public proof of ownership. (Photo by Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)