The sign “Please do not touch the exhibits” is becoming less common in museum exhibition halls. While museums still need to put in effort and work to fully adapt to various socially sensitive groups, a visit to the Vilnius Defensive Wall Tower of the National Museum of Lithuania shows that museums are not just places to observe — we can also hear, touch, and even smell the history within them.
Learning from Good Practices
Good practices can be drawn from the projects of the Creativity and Innovation Center “LinkMenų fabrikas” at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VILNIUS TECH), which were developed at the branch of the National Museum of Lithuania, specifically in the Vilnius Defensive Wall Tower.
Sensory Experience in Museums
According to Agnė Putelytė, the coordinator of community projects at the National Museum of Lithuania, although attention to people with disabilities is still lacking, we can quietly celebrate that museums are increasingly turning their focus to the variety of visitors' needs.
“Today, we already have exhibits and experiences that we can offer to the blind and visually impaired, we organize activities for children on the spectrum, and we encourage people with mobility impairments to visit museums,” says A. Putelytė.
The coordinator jokes that all the signs in the museum prohibiting touching exhibits have been removed, and today, visitors are more often encouraged by educators and hall staff to explore exhibits by touching, listening, or even smelling them.
VILNIUS TECH’s “LinkMenų fabrikas” implemented several projects at the Vilnius Defensive Wall Tower — including a sensory calming wall, tactile and sound models of exhibits, and auditory history stations, for which the museum’s staff created and recorded the stories.
“Projects implemented in museum spaces are not only a creative challenge for us but also an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to increasing social inclusion. By collaborating with the National Museum of Lithuania, we were able to fully utilize VILNIUS TECH ‘LinkMenų fabrikas’’s interdisciplinary possibilities — from prototype creation workshops for ideas, creating audio stories in the studio, to publicizing the project through media solutions developed in our media lab,” says Mantas Tamulionis, director of the VILNIUS TECH “LinkMenų fabrikas.”
M. Tamulionis notes that it is especially rewarding that VILNIUS TECH students actively participated in the creative and implementation processes — not only contributing with technical solutions but also bringing fresh ideas.
“These experiences become valuable practice for students, and for museums, new experiential formats that allow every visitor to find their own connection with history,” believes M. Tamulionis.
The Sensory Calming Wall: "The Niche of Peace"
The "Niche of Peace" sensory calming wall aims to introduce museum visitors to self-awareness of their emotions and a method that can help manage anxiety or panic attacks. Located in one of the tower's underground niches, the interactive wall teaches the “5-4-3-2-1” anxiety management method — it invites visitors to identify five things seen on the wall (pictures of exhibits), touch four different textures on the wall (wood, clay, metal, stone), hear three natural sounds (forest, water, fire), smell two natural scents, and finally, feel or recall the taste of the last food eaten.
Monika Grinevičiūtė, the project coordinator from VILNIUS TECH “LinkMenų fabrikas,” explains the project.
According to the idea's author, A. Putelytė, sometimes the world around us — relationships, daily challenges, and knowledge about global events — can be overwhelming, so it is essential to learn how to calm the distracted mind. Some people might benefit from breathing exercises, others from a walk. "The Niche of Peace" helps learn an attention management exercise.
“When implementing the ‘Do Not Fade, Opened’ project, we faced a significant challenge — to create a service for people with mood and neurotic disorders. Since the mindfulness method is currently very popular, we had to find a way to adapt it for the museum. Thus, ‘The Niche of Peace’ was born. Without the support and enthusiasm of VILNIUS TECH ‘LinkMenų fabrikas,’ this idea would not have developed — every concept needs its own godmother,” believes Agnė.
While implementing the five-step exercise, the project team was advised by psychotherapist Dainius Jakučionis, who also recorded the narration. The exercise is designed to be easy for both children and adults to learn.
From Photogrammetry to 3D Printing
At the Vilnius Defensive Wall Tower, tactile and auditory models of museum exhibits were installed — these objects are specifically designed for people with visual impairments, allowing them to learn about historical artifacts through touch.
“We can’t touch artifacts that are hundreds of years old, but thanks to technologies like 3D scanning and printing, tactile models of these exhibits can be created, which help understand the structure, weight, geometry, and sometimes even the materials of the original artifacts,” explains Rokas Bagdonas, head of the VILNIUS TECH “LinkMenų fabrikas” prototype laboratory.
According to R. Bagdonas, when creating tactile models of the tower's exhibits, they collaborated with partners from “Digital After-Life,” who used photogrammetry to scan real museum artifacts and transfer them into the digital space.
“After scanning, the models were adapted for 3D printing, which allowed us to bring the models back into the physical world, but this time they were designed to be touched,” says R. Bagdonas.
R. Bagdonas adds that the tactile models created with 3D printing are supplemented with auditory narratives that playfully and engagingly convey the history of the exhibits.
The auditory stories were created and recorded by the museum staff, and they were recorded and edited in the VILNIUS TECH “LinkMenų fabrikas” audio studio.
Visitor Experiences
“The new services are not going unnoticed by visitors to the Bastion. No visitor walks past the ‘Niche of Peace’ without stopping. Some listen, others smell, and some listen to the entire exercise,” says Agnė Putelytė, the coordinator of community projects at the National Museum of Lithuania.
“I’ve never seen such a service in any other museum,” shared one visitor. “I’ll have to come here every day — your wall is so calming,” said another. Some even initiate discussions about emotional literacy and mental health in society.
Agnė Putelytė is pleased that the collaboration with VILNIUS TECH “LinkMenų fabrikas” has changed the museum.
“We are receiving more and more visitors with disabilities, because now we can offer not just one exhibit to the blind. While we are still not on par with the Homer Museum in Italy, which has over 300 art pieces meant for touch, we have similar plans. We aim to ensure that no visitor group has to knock loudly to be let in,” says Agnė Putelytė, the community project coordinator at the National Museum of Lithuania.
