Tactual museum offers exhibits for the blind

ATHENS, Greece -- Dimitris Dovas runs his fingers over the face and body of Venus de Milo. "What incredible art!" he exclaims.\nDovas might be breaking the cardinal rule of museums, where visitors can look at but not touch the prized exhibits guarded behind ropes or in glass cases. But in an unassuming building on a quiet side street in central Athens, something is different.\nThe original Venus de Milo -- one of the most celebrated examples of Hellenistic art -- is still in Paris' Louvre museum. But an exact replica at the Tactual Museum is the only chance for Dovas, who is blind, to understand what the statue looks like.\n"This museum is very important for us. If you stand in front of a glass case and someone just describes what's inside, you don't really get a very good idea," he said. "Here, I understand much more."\nAll are here: sculptures from Ancient Olympia; a Corinthian jewelry box housed in a Boston museum; fourth century B.C. vases exhibited in Munich; the famed bronze statue of a charioteer from Delphi.\nWith the Paralympics just around the corner, the museum is hoping to attract both athletes and visitors who would otherwise have little contact with Greek antiquity.\nAthens was never a very friendly city for the disabled. Its narrow streets were difficult to negotiate with no ramps for wheelchairs, sidewalks frequently taken over as parking spots, chaotic traffic, and little or no access to many buildings.\nBut with the city hosting both the Olympics, which end Sunday, and the Paralympics, which open Sept. 17, something had to be done.\nLaws were passed in an effort to make public areas and buildings more accessible, and ramps were built on sidewalks. Even the Acropolis, one of the world's great archaeological sites, was fitted with a specially constructed open-air elevator to carry visitors in wheelchairs over the monument's 82-foot wall.\nThe Tactual Museum, part of a foundation known as Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece, hopes to help the blind gain a greater understanding of the birthplace of the ancient Olympics. Reopened in March \nafter being shut down since 1999 because of earthquake damage, it is now in full Paralympics mode.\nThe facility will extend its opening hours and will provide audio guided tours in English, French and German to supplement the current label explanations in Braille and in Greek, said Zoe Geroulanos of the museum's board of directors. A stack of Braille books include calendars and guides to the Paralympics.\n"We're ready for the games," Geroulanos said. "During the Paralympics ... we hope the athletes and their families will come here to discover the exhibits from ancient Olympia, from Delphi, from Crete, from the Cycladic museum."\nApart from the replicas of antiquities -- faithful gypsum reproductions of the originals, chipped noses and all -- several new exhibits are Olympic-oriented. A relief map of Athens indicating the locations of sports venues hangs just inside the entrance, next to depictions of the Paralympics and Olympics mascots and logos.\n"In general, this is the best (museum) that there is," said Maria Makiataki, touring the first floor with a guide. "Here, I can understand whatever you can see -- the size of the statue, what it represents, everything. I can see whatever you see."\nThe museum also hopes to obtain a genuine ancient artifact to give the blind a better idea of what the exhibits are made of.\n"We want one genuine piece, so they can understand the feel of marble. Making a replica in marble wouldn't work, because the feel of ancient, weathered marble is completely different," Geroulanos said. "These are small things that are very easy for us to see and understand, but for a blind person, it's very hard"