Touching Art
An international benchmark in aesthetic education for the blind and visually impaired, the Omero Museum is today a unique and “barrier-free” space where everyone can experience art through touch.
The State Tactile Museum Omero
Established in 1993 by the Municipality of Ancona with the contribution of the Marche Region, inspired by the Italian Union of the Blind, the Omero Museum was recognized by Parliament in 1999 as a State Museum with Law number 452 of November 25, 1999, confirming its unique national importance.
In the summer of 2012, the museum began moving into the eighteenth-century halls of the Mole Vanvitelliana in Ancona, making part of the permanent collection accessible and activating the Documentation and Research Center, educational workshops, and offices.
The creation of the new Omero Museum at the Mole is a long and ongoing process aiming to create an innovative and multisensory exhibition path, technologically advanced and spread over 1,500 square meters with around 300 works.
The Exhibition Path
Currently, the exhibition path occupies the spaces below the level of the internal courtyard with direct access from the perimeter courtyard of the Mole: it consists of 450 square meters intended to host in the future the “Made in Italy” section curated and realized by the Tod’s corporate group, in line with the purposes and exhibition methods of the new Omero Museum.
The layout features about 150 works from the permanent collection organized in chronological order, as adopted in the previous location.
The path includes true-to-life copies in plaster and resin of famous sculptures from Greek classical antiquity to the early twentieth century, including Etruscan, Roman, Romanesque, and Gothic art, the Renaissance of Michelangelo, the Baroque of Bernini, and the Neoclassicism of Canova. One room is dedicated to the “Sculpted Movement” from the Louvre, celebrating the body in motion through five actions: effort, dance, running, flight, and fall.
The exhibition path ends with original works from the rich contemporary art section that includes Italian and international figurative and informal artists: Valeriano Trubbiani, Girolamo Ciulla, Edgardo Mannucci, Umberto Mastroianni, André Barelier, Sergio Zanni, Pierre Carron, Pietro Annigoni, Aron Demetz, Francesco Messina, Loreno Sguanci, Vittorio Morelli, Sanzio Blasi, Roberto Papini, Floriano Bodini, Rosario Ruggiero, Felice Tagliaferri. Recently, this section has been enhanced with prestigious acquisitions of renowned sculptors such as Consagra, Martini, Marini, De Chirico, Pomodoro.
The collection, accessible and tactile, offers a journey through plastic and sculptural art of all periods. Arranged along a functional path, it is also stimulating for all those interested in investigating the connection between art and multisensoriality. There are escalators to explore sculptures by touch at different heights, educational aids for the blind and visually impaired such as relief boards and information sheets about the works available in Braille and large print.
Architectural models and archaeological finds are in storage or under restoration, waiting to be relocated in the final layout of the new Museum.
It is also possible to admire in the Leopardi Hall of the Mole Vanvitelliana the recent gift from Maestro Michelangelo Pistoletto to the Omero Museum: the large work The Recycled Italy.
To encourage a synesthetic approach to reality, the Museum, drawing on many years of experience, organizes numerous educational activities for schools, families, and groups with guided and tactile tours, and accessible workshops on themes of sensory education, contemporary art, diversity, and archaeology. It also offers a free permanent art training service for blind and visually impaired people and refresher and training courses for teachers and operators.
The Museum features a bookshop, a conference room, and a rich Documentation Center, open for consultation and specialized in the fields of special pedagogy and accessibility to museum heritage for differently-abled people, with publications on the topic edited by the Museum itself.
Finally, its cultural promotion activity is well established, carried out through exhibitions, cultural events, conferences, consultations, projects, seminars, and cultural collaborations and exchanges both in Italy and abroad.
Information
Admission to the museum: free.
Visits and activities are charged (€3 per person) and by reservation.
All initiatives are free for disabled persons and their companions.
Information about the State Tactile Museum Omero
Mole Vanvitelliana, 28
60121 Ancona (Ancona)
0712811935
info@museoomero.it
https://www.museoomero.it
SUMMER HOURS: from June 15 to September 15: Tuesday to Friday 6 pm – 10 pm; Saturday and Sunday 10 am – 1 pm and 6 pm – 10 pm. Morning: opening by appointment for groups. Closed: Monday, August 15.
free
Source: MIBACT
