Two-Dimensional Sculptured for the Blind

By Ali abu Dashish

CAIRO, Feb.14(SEE)- The Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina completed the application of the experience of two-dimensional sculptured for a number of artifacts presented to it to be placed next to the blind labels and the visually impaired.

The Museum will update the previously presented artifacts before bringing the number to seven.

The Archaeological Museum has carried out this new experiment based on the belief in the importance of the role of the blind in society and in helping them to visualize the shape and dimensions of the artifacts.

The move is taken to be a contribution to the museum's educational message to all segments of Egyptian society, including the blind and the visually impaired.

It is worth mentioning that the blind and visually impaired are among the most interested in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina because they have their own library.

Officials have added these two-dimensional sculptured to the vicinity of the most important artifacts is the statue of the sleeping child, which dates back to the Roman era and was discovered by one of the fishermen during his fishing in the Borlos lake in Kafr Elshikh.

This, in addition to the statue of the God Thot the God of wisdom in pharaonic era in the form of Ibis bird and the statue of the God Thot in the form of the monkey baboon and the head of Alexander the Great due to Roman period and two pieces of mosaic found during the excavation of the foundations of the library. The foundation dates back to the Hellenistic period and the head of Emperor Augustus the first Roman emperor after the end of the Ptolemaic rule with the death of Marcos Antonius and Cleopatra the seventh.

The Antiquities Museum will complete the work of two-dimensional sculptured for the other important artifacts that are admired by its visitors.

The two-dimensional sculptured were made by a student in the faculty of art education named Yehia Nour El-Din, one of the children of the museum; he participated in the activity of the museum educational program and made the sculpture inside the museum. The sculptures are too expensive because it takes a lot of time and cost about 1000 L.E is made of gypsum and after completion, a wooden frame is made to hang it, which allow the officials in the Museum to start a small number and try to circulate, in the future, by choosing the largest possible number of distinctive pieces in the museum.

In the beginning, a good number of blind people visited the Museum and were impressed by the fact that they were able to know the shape of the impact once they touched it. In addition, it is useful for the blind who are unable to read the Braille labels which represented next to them.

This idea is new and is being applied for the first time in the museums of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

The Antiquities Museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a pioneer in the introduction and application of this new method in the museum display and in the delivery of archaeological information in a simplified scientific way for the blind and visually impaired.

The Antiquities museum at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina carries out this task in its belief in the role of the leading Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt and the world as the beacon of science, culture, knowledge, and the focal point of communication and cultural radiance in the both ancient and modern world.