People with special needs can now visit the Niguliste Museum more conveniently

Since the middle of January, the accessibility of the Niguliste Museum for people with special needs has significantly improved. Audio guides with descriptions for people who are visually impaired or blind and tablet computers with sign language translations of major artworks for people with hearing loss or who are deaf can be borrowed from the ticket counter. Visitors can enjoy the museum’s permanent exhibition with a new audio guide.

As part of the improvement of the accessibility of the Niguliste Museum, five audio descriptions have been created for the visually impaired and the blind. These are the architectural description of the Niguliste church and the descriptions of the museum’s most precious treasures: Bernt Notke’s “Dance of Death” and the three late medieval altarpieces. Since the works are very detailed, the descriptions are extensive and can also be listened to independently on the museum’s YouTube channel, Soundcloud and our website. The audio guide can be borrowed from the museum’s ticket counter, which includes directions for movement and a regular audio guide, besides the descriptions.

Deaf and hearing impaired people can borrow a tablet computer for their visit containing sign-language translations of the most valuable works in the exhibition. Tablets can be borrowed from the ticket office and the sign language translations are also available on YouTube. Deaf people can also use hearing loops and neck-loop antennas in the museum.

“The new solutions will allow all of our visitors to fully enjoy the history of our building and the exhibition. As the solutions are available both on-site on the devices and on other platforms, such as the Niguliste Museum website, the podcast platform Soundcloud and YouTube, all visitors can personalise their visit in advance or recall it afterwards. This is particularly important for visually and hearing impaired people, who often want to learn about the nature and opportunities of the building before their visit,” says the director of the Niguliste Museum, Tarmo Saaret.

The new solutions for people with special needs are combined with the museum’s existing guide-ways for the visually impaired and the tactile plan of the building, which helps visitors find their way around the museum more easily. In the reopened Niguliste Museum, all visitors will also have the opportunity to get to know the building better with the help of a large-scale tactile model of the Niguliste Church. Thanks to the glass lift, visitors in wheelchairs can access the Niguliste tower, which offers a view of the city of Tallinn and the bay in all four cardinal directions.

The Niguliste Museum now offers all visitors the opportunity to use audio guides in Estonian and in English. These can also be listened to on the museum’s Soundcloud platform.

The project to improve the accessibility of the Niguliste Museum was supported by the National Board of Heritage through the Accelerator for Museums.

Project team

Audio descriptions team: Kerttu Palginõmm (Niguliste Museum), Annika Kupits, Jakob Rosin (OÜ Ligipääsuke), Jaak Arula (OÜ Audioguide), Villu Plink (Art Museum of Estonia) and Klaire Kolmann

“Dance of Death” audio description team: Liisi Selg, Artur Räpp, Jakob Rosin (OÜ Ligipääsuke), Jaak Arula (OÜ Audioguide) and Kerttu Palginõmm (Niguliste Museum)

Audio guide team: Kerttu Palginõmm (Niguliste Museum), Merike Kurisoo (Niguliste Museum), Jaak Arula (OÜ Audioguide), Klaire Kolmann, Marju Kubre and Richard Adang

Sign language team: Sirle Papp, Anne Sepping, Kerttu Palginõmm (Niguliste Museum) and Villu Plink (Art Museum of Estonia)