The Louvre opens a new space for discovering sculptures using tactile, acoustic and entertaining devices

Hands-on stimulation, Braille, sign language, games: from Thursday the Louvre Museum opens a new multisensory room dedicated to the discovery of the sculpture by all spectators.

This new “educational and integrative” space of 80 m2 is located in the heart of the Denon Wing, among the picture galleries that house it The mona LIsa by Leonardo da Vinci.

Understand the sculptor’s relationship to the material

It was designed based on the museum’s first-ever “tactile gallery,” created in 1995 to make the museum more accessible to the visually impaired and at the heart of the sculpture department, explained Sophie Hervet, head of outreach. Graphics and digital. The new space reinvents and enriches it.

“We decided to innovate the concept by giving visitors general keys of understanding to answer the questions they ask in the museum space.” added Stéphanie Deschamps-Tan, chief curator in the sculpture department.

The visitor is asked to mobilize his entire body in order to understand the sculptor’s relationship to the material. Hands-on casts, Braille labels, sign language tours, listening to work histories, audio descriptions, tactile panels (marble, bronze), and manipulative aids to help all viewers discover and understand sculptures from the Middle Ages to the Middle Ages 19th century.

Materials and workshop of the sculptor

Clay, marble, wood, plaster… The materials and their natural environment, the sculptor’s workshop and the functions of the sculptural works as well as the tools with which they were created are presented.

Louis touches her.