'Touchable' museum provides fun for visually impaired people

en.thnet.gov.cn Updated: April 4, 2023

A non-vision open day activity recently took place at the Grandview Museum of Natural Science in Guangzhou's Tianhe district, where visually impaired students experienced a "touchable" museum.

During this activity, students touched stromatolites, evidence of the emergence of blue-green algae, which is one of the earliest organisms on Earth, and the feces and gastrolith fossils of herbivorous dinosaurs from the Jurassic period.

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A student touches stromatolites in the museum. [Photo/WeChat account: tianhefabu]

In addition, the museum had organised visually impaired volunteers to work as guides during the activity.

"The first time I touched a dinosaur fossil, I felt scared but amazed," said one of the volunteers Huo Wenxi. "We have never experienced this before. This way, we can understand the exhibits better and remember them more deeply."

The Grandview Museum of Natural Science launched the "touchable" museum in 2021, hoping to provide public cultural resources for visually impaired individuals.