Museo Tattile Statale Omero, Tactile art museum in Ancona, Italy.
The Museo Tattile Statale Omero is a state museum in Ancona where the entire collection of sculptures and art objects is meant to be touched. It holds both replicas of famous works and original pieces, arranged across several floors of a large harbor building.
The museum opened in 1993 with the goal of making art accessible to people with visual impairments, and was recognized as a state institution a few years later. That official status helped it become a reference point for other museums working on tactile access to art.
The museum encourages every visitor, not only those with visual impairments, to explore sculptures and reliefs by hand. Touching the works changes how you read a shape, a texture, or a figure in a way that looking alone cannot.
Allow more time than you might for a typical museum visit, since exploring works by touch takes longer than looking. Staff are available on site to guide you and to explain the different pieces.
The museum occupies one whole side of the Mole Vanvitelliana, a pentagonal structure from the first half of the 1700s designed by Luigi Vanvitelli, who also planned the artificial pentagonal island in Ancona's harbour. Three bridges link the island to the mainland, a few steps from Porta Pia. The building's original role was sanitary and military.
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