Accessing the Museum
- Public transport
The museum can be reached by bus. It is located in the very centre of the city, opposite the Main Bus Station. The nearest stop is Dworzec Główny PKS 01 and Dworzec Główny PKS 02 on the opposite side of the street. Buses numbered: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 17, 18, 22, 29, 31, 32, 34, 39, 52, 57, 150 stop there. Climb the high stairs leading from pl. Zamkowy on the top of the castle hill. To avoid the stairs, you can reach the Museum at ul. Zamkowa from the side of al. Tysiąclecia, from the Roman Dmowski roundabout. This driveway is gentle, although paved, which can be difficult for people in wheelchairs.
- Car
Only people with physical disabilities may park in front of the Museum (ul. Zamkowa 9). To enter the car park in front of the headquarters, driving from al. Tysiąclecia, turn right into ul. Zamkowa, just before the Roman Dmowski roundabout. There are three disabled parking spaces at the top of the hill.
Public parking is available on pl. Zamkowy (entry from al. Tysiąclecia or from ul. Kowalska), from which you have to get to the Museum via high stairs. It is a 24/7, paid, unguarded car park. The fees must be paid at the parking meter, the fee is valid from Monday to Friday from 8.00 am to 6.00 pm. Outside of these hours and on weekends, parking is free. This parking lot is not always available – due to concerts and other events often taking place on pl. Zamkowy.
- Coach
Coaches can park in designated places on pl. Zamkowy (entry from al. Tysiąclecia) and in the “Pod Zamkiem” car park (entry from al. Unii Lubelskiej). Both car parks are paid.
Accessibility of the Museum for people with physical disabilities
The National Museum in Lublin is accessible to people with physical disabilities. The main entrance to the Museum is on the level of the castle courtyard – glazed doors of an appropriate width, through which a person in a wheelchair can easily pass.
On the ground floor of the Museum there is a cloakroom, ticket office, museum shop and a toilet for people with physical disabilities. The second toilet adapted for wheelchair users is located in the second part of the building, next to the staircase leading to the Holy Trinity Chapel, on the ground floor.
The exhibitions are located on three floors, between which you can move by stairs, you can also use two elevators and a vertical lift (located in different parts of the Museum).
To reach the Holy Trinity Chapel, take the elevator from the main hall to level +1, follow the corridor through the Lublin Region Folk Art exhibition to the very end, then turn left and immediately right, to the hall, with the entrance to the Chapel.
The keep is the only object inaccessible to visitors with physical disabilities. Due to conservation restrictions, an elevator cannot be installed there. High and winding stairs leading to the observation deck at the top make it impossible for people with physical disabilities to visit this facility.
Accessibility of the Museum for people with hearing disabilities
One of the cash desks in the main hall on the ground floor is equipped with an induction loop. This cash register is marked with the international induction loop mark, i.e. a crossed-out ear with the letter T in the lower right corner, on a blue background.
Hearing impaired people who use induction-coil hearing aids can also borrow audio guides with an individual induction loop. They are available in the price of the admission ticket at the museum ticket office.
In addition, there are stationary induction loops in the building, in the 19th–20th Century Polish Painting Gallery and the conference room. The museum also has a portable induction loop that can be used during lectures, vernissages and other events in the museum space.
People using sign language can borrow tablets with uploaded information about individual exhibitions in Polish sign language.
Accessibility of the Museum for visually impaired people
For the blind and partially sighted people, audio descriptions of selected objects have been prepared, which are available both on the Museum website and in the form of free audioguides to be accessed at the museum ticket office. The sightseeing route has not been specially marked, so we recommend visiting with an assistant or asking the exhibition supervisor for help.
In the Holy Trinity Chapel there is a typhlographic map showing the plan of the Chapel and the location of the frescoes inside the temple. It is described in braille and makes a sound – the labels stuck on the map can be read using the PenFriend device available on the spot.
Include them in the culture! 2
In 2016, as part of a project implemented by the Kultura Bez Barier (Culture Without Barriers) Foundation in Warsaw, a three-day training course on servicing disabled visitors was held at the National Museum in Lublin. Museum employees learned about the problems of people with sight, hearing and movement disabilities and tried to empathise with the role of people with disabilities. A large part of the training was devoted to the principles of writing audio description.
The cooperation resulted in the following amenities for people with disabilities:
- 10 audio descriptions for the blind,
- a film in Polish sign language about the history of the Museum and permanent exhibitions,
- typhlographics.
Touch the history – museum workshops for blind and visually impaired children
In 2017, a series of workshops for blind and visually impaired children and adolescents from the Prof. Zofia Sękowska Special Educational-Didactic Centre for Disabled Children and Youth in Lublin. They were attended by 30 participants from primary, middle and high schools. Each group took part in two meetings devoted to the history of the castle hill and the most valuable artefacts of the Museum. During the workshops, educational materials were used that were adapted to the participants’ cognitive abilities, especially activating the sense of touch, hearing and smell. Financing from the National Centre for Culture as part of the Very Young Culture program for 2016–2018 was allocated to the production and purchase of the following educational materials:
- typhlographs and relief prints of selected museum objects,
- binaural recordings of sounds related to the museum space and exhibits.
Art and literary competition “Lublin Castle throughout history”
On the occasion of the 700th anniversary of granting city rights to Lublin in 2017, a competition was organised aimed at children and young people from the Lublin Voivodeship with sight, hearing, movement and intellectual disabilities. The competition was conducted in two categories:
- “Lublin Castle in the eyes of a child” – an art category for primary school students,
- “Illustrated history of the Lublin castle” – an art and literary category for students of middle and high schools.
As part of the competition, 10 free lessons on the history of the castle and the castle hill were conducted, attended by students from special school and education centres from the region, students of integration classes, pupils of the Active Rehabilitation Foundation and young patients from the Children’s Clinical Hospital in Lublin. About 70 participants took part in the competition. The first prize was funded by the First Lady – Mrs. Agata Kornhauser-Duda.
Reading painting
Since 2016, the Museum has been cooperating with the Kultura Bez Barier (Culture Without Barriers) Foundation on a project consisting in making the collections of Polish museums and galleries available to people with sensory disabilities. As part of the project, selected objects from our Museum were digitised, audio descriptions, descriptions in a simplified text and translations into Polish sign language were created. The materials were published on the project website and in the application for mobile devices. Detailed information can be found at www.czytanieobrazow.pl.
Purchase of equipment for cultural activities adapted to people with sight and hearing disabilities
In 2017, the Museum received funding from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage under the “Cultural Infrastructure” program. The aim of the project was primarily to increase access to the cultural offer of the Museum for people with visual and hearing disabilities and to increase its attractiveness through the use of modern technologies. As part of the funding, the following was purchased:
- typhlographic plan of the Holy Trinity Chapel,
- tourguide system helpful in guiding tours,
- 3D printer,
- movie projector and large format screen,
- stationary and portable induction loop.
Modern technologies in the educational activity of the Museum as means of equal opportunities in access to culture
In 2018, the Museum received funding from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage as part of the “Cultural Infrastructure” program. The following equipment was purchased:
- 3D scanner with a computer and software for making detailed copies of monuments,
- braille printer for creating texts and educational materials for the blind.