Accessible Tours
As part of the Museum's mission to make the visual arts accessible to everyone, a variety of tours are offered to help visitors with disabilities get the most from their visit. Led by specially trained, experienced Museum Guides, these tours include: Specially Tailored ToursThese tours are available by prearrangement for individuals or groups with mobility, hearing, visual, cognitive, and communication impairments, or other unique perspectives. Themed tours are developed around the needs and interests of the participants and can focus on any aspect of the Museum’s collections and exhibitions. Touchable and visual materials supplement descriptions and discussions. Sign Language Interpreted Tours
Collections and exhibitions are available by prearrangement for individuals or groups who are deaf. FM assistive listening devices, with headphones or neck loops, are available for use on any tour, just ask your Tour Guide. Printed scripts of all audio tours are available at any Visitor Services desk. Touch Tours
Selected original works of art in the Museum's collections are available for visitors who are blind or visually impaired to experience through touch. The Museum Guide's visual descriptions are supplemented by the visitor’s guided touching of these objects. A maximum of two to three visitors with each Museum Guide facilitates optimal enjoyment of these tours. Several Guides may conduct each tour. Touch Tour topics include:
- Modern and Contemporary Art: focusing on the human figure, this tour includes styles from the very realistic to the very abstract. One of the objects is the 13-foot stainless steel sculpture Two Box Structure (1961) by David Smith.
- Nineteenth-Century European Art: includes the life-size bronze sculpture The Large Bather and the 2-foot-tall bronze bas-relief Tambourine Dancer I, both by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
- European Decorative Arts and Sculpture: includes a Medieval cloister with a marble fountain, columns and capitals, as well as the 3-foot-tall sculpture Virgin and Child (c. 1350).
- East Asian Art: includes an 18-inch stone head from Cambodia, a wood and iron object from Korea, and the complete Japanese Teahouse Sunkaraku (c. 1917) from Tokyo.
- Indian and Himalayan Art: includes an Indian Temple Hall (c. 1525–50), from Madurai, India, with intricately carved figures covering its 26 granite columns, and a 4-foot-tall depiction of Durga as the Slayer of the Demon Nishumbha (c. 950) as well as Seated Lion (c. 650) from southern India.
- The Rodin Museum: Located at the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 22nd Street, this tour includes numerous sculptures by French artist Auguste Rodin, including his 20 x 13 feet Gates of Hell, the life-size Colossal Head of Balzac, The Burghers of Calais, and The Hand of God.
These three-dimensional representations of selected paintings in the Museum’s permanent collections allow blind, visually impaired, and sighted visitors alike to experience masterpieces from the collections that cannot be touched. Each interpretation consists of three parts:
- A visual description that gives an objective overview of and then "builds" the painting, step by step
- A series of black-and-white, raised-line, textured diagrams that illustrate each step in building the paining
- A 2 to 6-inch-thick sculptural representation of the painting that is colored and textured to resemble the original subjects in the painting
Visitors and groups who learn best by manipulating materials may make arrangements to examine reproductions of objects with a Museum guide before their gallery tour. Hands-On Object Kits relate to tour themes, including Asian Art, Medieval Art, Nineteenth-Century European Art, and Twentieth-Century Art.
Registration
To schedule your tour, call by phone (215) 684-7602 or TTY (215) 684-7600 or email at least three weeks prior to your preferred date.Admission Fees
- General admission fees are listed on the Visitor Information page.
- General admission fees for individuals and groups of people with disabilities who schedule through the office of Accessible Programs are $8 per person.
- Special Exhibition (Picasso and the Avant-Garde in Paris and Late Renoir) admission fees are listed on the Visitor Information page.
- Personal Attendants of individuals with disabilities are admitted free of charge. Limit of one attendant per individual.
For more information, please contact Accessible Programs by phone at (215) 684-7602 or TTY (215) 684-7600, by fax at (215) 684-7395, or by e-mail at .
