The Tiflogico, a museum to touch the Taj Mahal, Cibeles or the Eiffel Tower with your hands

Alfredo Merino Madrid

Madrid

Updated Sunday, March 17, 2024-00:00

"Although it is designed for the use of the blind and those with visual impairments, the museum is open to all audiences, whether or not they have any type of disability."

With this declaration of intentions,

Mireia Rodríguez, the technician responsible for the center, begins the visit to the

Tiphlological Museum .

Created in 1992 by the National Organization of the Spanish Blind,

ONCE

, this museum emerged to provide the visually impaired with a

sensory experience

through the perception of different works of art, in order to achieve their social inclusion and access to culture. .

The name derives from the Greek word

typlos

, meaning blind.

Without being too well known, last year it received

17,500 visits

.

Access is free.

This museum also allows people who are not blind or visually impaired to get into the shoes of the blind for a while.

Situation that helps to understand their limitations and how they overcome them.

At the same time, it sows an

empathetic feeling

that is a breeding ground for social inclusion.

In another of its facets, the Tiflológico

promotes blind and visually impaired artists

, through the organization of exhibitions and the acquisition of their works to increase the institution's funds.

The Typhlological Museum includes

three permanent collections

: that of reproductions of national and international monuments, the second section exhibits works created by blind artists and those with severe visual disabilities and the third includes a selection of objects and typhological and bibliographic material from different periods.

Replica of the Lady of Elche.

The rooms with the

reproductions of monuments

are the most striking part of the Typhlology.

Organized into two blocks: national and international monuments, this overwhelming collection of replicas waits to be touched.

They allow the dimensions, shapes and structures of cathedrals, towers, mosques and even entire cities to be assimilated through the palm of the hands.

«The dimensions of the royal monuments make them inaccessible to the blind, but also to people with normal vision.

These models make it easier to understand

," explains González.

And within our reach,

the Puerta de Alcalá, the Cibeles, the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

, the bison of Altamira, the aqueduct of Segovia, the Sagrada Familia and so on, up to two dozen in the ranks of the national ones.

The Parthenon, the Eiffel Tower

, the Tower Bridge of London, Hagia Sophia, Jerusalem and the Great Pyramid of Chichén Itzá, among the international ones.

"The exhibition includes 300 works from the more than 1,600 in our collections."

Made of resins, wood, plastics, stones

and other materials by professional model makers and artists, each one takes about two years to produce.

"We have recently begun to incorporate models made with

3D printing

, which is much faster," explains the technician.

“The

Taj Mahal

is the first,” Mireia answers without hesitation, when asked which one makes the greatest impression on visitors.

"Not only because of its dimensions, its

perfection

and fidelity to the original building in India, but also because of the material that has been used to make it."

Model of the Puerta de Alcalá.

The immaculate white replica is

carved from the same kind of marble

as the legendary Agra monument.

Made by the artist Chris Avramov Christoph, it has a height of 86 centimeters.

Despite its dimensions, there is no shortage of details such as the delicate decoration of the lintels, the small domes and the starry mosaics.

In front of this work of art, it is irresistible not to caress the rounded dome, run your fingers along the stylized minarets, feel the lotus flower at its tip in your fingertips... The

pleasant tactile experience

is multiplied when you close your eyes.

At the other end of the room, shouting is heard.

"An important part of our visits are

schools

," says González, and adds: "Most of them are normal children, without any kind of deficiency."

Around the Tower of Pisa, the children find it difficult to remain silent to listen to the guide.

"Yes, of course you can touch it, but after her explanations," she responds to the childish hubbub.

"There are times, when classes come with many children, we cannot let them touch the monuments," says González.

And it is not for fear of breaking them, it is because to see one of these works with your fingers,

it takes more time

than with the sense of sight.

It would mean delaying the school visit much longer than scheduled.

Today there are not too many.

So the schoolchildren are left to caress the leaning tower.

Obediently, they close their eyes when it is their turn.

"Oh, without seeing it, it's much bigger

," "so it doesn't look like it's tilted."... one after another, they experience touch as if it were a game.

The fountain of Cybele.

«Perception through the sense of touch is much slower

than with sight.

And smaller.

When you enter the room, with a glance you control its dimensions and what it has;

"A blind person cannot do this, they have to perceive everything more slowly, object by object," explains the head of the museum.

We do the test.

Before us, the Lady of Elche.

We close our eyes and start our hands.

The tiara discs are the first thing that comes to mind.

Then they go over her soft face, her straight nose, her lips.

Below, the necklaces that adorn the chest of the Iberian lady.

The exploration took us a couple of minutes

.

Much more time than most visitors spend at the National Archaeological Museum, where the original Iberian sculpture is exhibited.

They don't let them touch this one;

You can only look at it, and few remain in front of the bust for more than 30 seconds.

Everything here is designed for the

better understanding

of those who have some type of visual disability.

The large exhibition space makes it easy to get around.

The different types of soil

help a lot

.

The central hallways have a tiled surface, while the exhibition areas, surrounding the reproductions, are covered with carpet.

The difference in the texture and hardness of both materials is detected through the sole of the shoes, allowing you to know where you are at all times.

The

lighting

of the Tiphlological rooms, using different intensities, facilitates the museum experience for people with visual disabilities who are not totally blind.

The system of intelligent sound-guided beacons, which locates nearby objects using a mobile application, helps everyone alike.

Always something new

The museum has

audio guides

that tell a tour of the rooms and allow independent visits.

Antonio is a blind man who moves smoothly through the museum, while he listens to one of them.

«I usually come from time to time.

The truth is that I know it by heart, but with this device you always learn something new," he says.

Reproduction of the Roman Colosseum.

If the reproductions of the monuments surprise, the section where

sculptures, paintings and photographs

by artists with severe visual disabilities are exhibited leaves visitors stunned.

Seeking to disseminate their works and promote their creators, so that they can join the world of plastic arts, this permanent exhibition includes part of the collections of the Typhlological Museum.

It is difficult to understand how a deafblind sculptor is capable of creating works like

Midnight Dream

.

The creator of this beautiful bronze is the Galician José María Prieto, a sought-after artist, who has other works in the Tiflológico.

Next to him, one of the most recognized works in the collection:

La Castañera

, by the also blind Daniel Calvo Pérez.

No less interesting is the third part of this museum.

It includes a wide

range of objects and machines

used to facilitate access to everyday life for the blind and visually impaired.

Braille patterns, different types of playback devices and one-handed typewriters are some of them.

A collection of blind coupons

is displayed here

.

Some date back to times before the founding of ONCE - initially called ONC - which happened in 1938, exactly on December 13, the holiday of Saint Lucia, patron saint of the blind.

Tickets are preserved from the abundant

street raffles

, organized in the first decades of the 20th century by local entities, to help the blind.

These coupons are open windows to a time when the blind was synonymous with the beggar and, far from the culture that this museum gives them, the only thing they obtained from society was the charity that sustained their subsistence.