Museum des Blindenwesens - Wittelsbachstraße 5

The collection of the Vienna Museum of the Blind goes back to the beginning of the education of the blind in Vienna. Johann Wilhelm Klein , who founded the kk Institute for the Education of the Blind in Vienna in 1804 , already started the museum in the thirties. The museum gives an overview of the development of teaching and learning aids for the teaching of the blind in various departments - ranging from music, mathematics, geography to biology. Among other things, the following historical teaching aids can be visited: music instruments, tactile clocks, drawing apparatus for geometry lessons, maps, globes, animal models. A focus is the development of the various writings for the blind to the actual "Braille", which was developed by Louis Braille in 1825. Before the writing Brailles could prevail, was tried with a variety of methods and fonts to enable a written communication between the blind and sighted. The various forms of inscriptions ranged from letters over different relief fonts to individual cut-out letters that could be glued and felt. The Viennese mechanic Carl Ludwig Müller developed a tactile "Masseschrift" in 1806. This led to the "first-time" invention of the fountain pen. In addition to the development of writing for the blind, the museum also presents the development of typewriters for the blind and book printing of booklets in "high pressure". The museum's significant graphic collection includes some 1700 leaves on the topic of blindness. The first pictures were donations, which Johann Wilhelm Klein received for his institute. Many pictures illustrate the social position of the blind. Representations range from the blind in antiquity, in the Orient to the blind occupations of the 19th and 20th centuries. The blind were trained in the 19th century, especially in craft professions. The craft, which still has its legitimacy today, is dedicated to a separate room. The Museum of the Blind is one of the richest of its kind and enjoys an international reputation.