There isn’t much to see at the Kaunas Museum for the Blind, and that’s by design. In fact, the museum, which opened in 2005, is dark and housed in the catacombs of St. Michael the Archangel Church. 

While the museum was originally intended for the blind, it has morphed into a place where the sighted can experience an hour in a blind person’s shoes. Its exhibits indulge the aural, olfactory, and tactile senses, providing the sighted with the experience of blindness.

Sculptor Robertas Antinis spearheaded the project of converting the church’s catacombs into a museum. Students from the Kaunas Institute of Technology worked on the project as part their “Catacombs of the 21st Century” project. 

Signs in the museum feature Braille and Lithuanian alike. Visitors experience strange textures, soundscapes, aromas, and other sensory objects. Some of the textures, sounds, and smells act as navigational cues as visitors roam through the catacombs.