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With their fingertips, Marina and Jose Pedro pored over a small-scale model of\u00a0Barcelona\u2019s Sagrada Familia church in an exhibition which allows the blind to discover some of the world\u2019s best-known monuments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are just so many tiny details! And what a strange roof,\u201d enthused Jose Pedro Gonzalez as he explored the wooden replica of Gaudi\u2019s spectacular basilica.<\/p>\n
Marina Rojas said that she \u201cnever imagined the Sagrada Familia like that\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very surprising, because you get a general idea of what the monument is like, what the space inside is like,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The Madrid Typhlological Museum \u2014 from the Greek \u201ctuphlos\u201d meaning blind \u2014 houses 37 reproductions of global monuments that are listed as world heritage sites.<\/p>\n
It was set up in 1992 by ONCE, Spain\u2019s powerful national organisation for the blind which has 71,000 members.<\/p>\n
Made of wood, stone, metal or resin, the models are accessible to all visitors \u2014 whether blind, sighted or partially sighted \u2014 giving them a hands-on, sensory experience of the architecture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no other place in the world with a museum like this,\u201d said guide Mireia Rodriguez, who is herself visually impaired.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are many other museums designed for visually impaired visitors, but they don\u2019t have this kind of collection.\u201d<\/p>\n
ONCE runs a lottery and some very popular scratchcard games which bring in 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) a year and pays the salaries of its 72,000 employees, six out of 10 of whom have some sort of disability.<\/p>\n
The funds are also used for other investments, such as the museum, which in 2023 welcomed 16,000 visitors,<\/p>\n
Besides the models, the museum also features artworks by people who are visually impaired and a display of tools and equipment used from the early 19th century until the 1980s to help blind people access culture, including books in Braille.<\/p>\n
After wandering through a room housing models of Spain\u2019s best-known sights such as the Alhambra palace in Granada, Madrid\u2019s Royal Palace and the Santiago de Compostela cathedral, Rojas branded the exhibition \u201creally marvellous\u201d.<\/p>\n
Another room is filled with global landmarks such as the Taj Mahal, London Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, Rome\u2019s Colosseum, the Parthenon in Athens, the Eiffel Tower, the Kremlin and the Old City of Jerusalem to name but a few.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo matter how much they explain to you, you can\u2019t really get a proper image of what it\u2019s like\u2026 and that creates a lot of frustration, so the fact there are spaces like this is fantastic,\u201d said Rojas, whose eyes can only see a bit of light.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish there were more chances to touch such works of art,\u201d the 32-year-old said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTouch gives you a lot of information, even if most comes through sight, so it\u2019s very important to touch,\u201d she told AFP, her guide dog Boston standing at her side.<\/p>\n
For curious hands, however, he is firmly out of bounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t stroke me, I\u2019m working,\u201d warns a message on his harness.<\/p>\n
It was while feeling the dome of the Taj Mahal that Gonzalez\u2019s hands lingered longest, his fingers taking in the model\u2019s smooth curves made of the very same Makrana marble as the dazzling white mausoleum in northern India.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew the Taj Mahal was made of marble, but the first thing that surprised me was touching it and how cold it felt, that the model itself was also made of marble,\u201d the 60-year-old who has been blind since birth said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love these oriental domes and all the work that goes into carving the marble and the little details,\u201d said Gonzalez, his hands gliding over the monument\u2019s rooftops and facades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is, of course, a building and not a piece of gold jewellery, but in many respects, it seems like one,\u201d he smiled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n