Installation of a haptic model of the Madonna of Vyšší Brod for the blind and visually impaired in the Cistercian monastery in Vyšší Brod

The Cistercian Monastery in Vyšší Brod is bringing a great novelty for its visitors in the new summer tourist season – a haptic model based on the Gothic panel painting of the Madonna of Vyšší Brod, which is primarily intended for the blind and visually impaired, but anyone can touch it directly. It is located in the monastery's Gallery of Gothic Art.

The haptic model was created by Bc. Jaroslav Svoboda who is currently a master's student at the Department of Art Education of the Faculty of Education of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice (DAE FED USB). He prepared the artefact as his bachelor thesis within the project "Haptic models of architectural elements and paintings for people with disabilities", which is being conducted at the DAE FED USB in cooperation with the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs of the University of South Bohemia under the direction of Mgr. Zuzana Duchková, Ph.D. and Mgr. Josef Lorenc, PhD and Mgr. Zdeněk Toušek since 2016. The models created so far (mainly for the monastery Church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary in České Budějovice) have been adapted to meet the needs of blind and visually impaired people in terms of size, colour and material used (baked clay, plaster). They are supplemented with descriptions of specific themes in Braille and QR codes that link to texts in Czech, English and German and to spoken text.

Visitors can already look forward to next summer when the Madonna of Vyšší Brod will be joined by a haptic model of the Cross of Záviš, which is a national cultural monument and the third most valuable goldsmith's monument in the Czech Republic after the Crown Jewels and the Reliquary of St. Maurus. This time Jaroslav Svoboda will create not only the cross itself but also some selected details of it, which are difficult to grasp even for visitors who are not visually impaired. The whole set of haptic models will again be accompanied by the texts described above, which will enable a wide target group to better comprehend this exceptional movable artefact.