HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM

The main organizer behind the establishment of the museum was Michal Dzurňák (1923-1994), who served as the director and teacher for blind students at the Apprentice School of a Boarding School for Visually Impaired Youth. The collection of the Museum of the Blind primarily featured original teaching aids created by Viliam Hrabovec and other educators from the Czechoslovak State Institute for the Blind in Levoča.

Teaching aids for the visually impaired: copper globe (1927), plastic map of the High Tatras (1936), relief of Mariánská hora in Levoča, a plaster cast of Spiš castle (1937), but also tools made in Western Europe – rare Picht machines (end of 19th century), set of drawing needs, Klein’s typewriter (1830) and others.

The Museum of the Blind came to an end in the late 1990s due to unsuitable, cramped rooms in the bastion and poor accessibility, especially for disabled visitors.

The successor became the Museum of Special Education in Levoča, which has been situated in the burgher´s house on Námestie Majstra Pavla 28 since November 16, 1990.

It was established at the initiative of the Society for Special and Healing Education in the Slovak Republic, namely PhDr. Vladimír Predmerský and functioned as a historical-documentation center for special and healing pedagogy. Michal Dzurňák continued the idea.

Head of the Museum of Special Education in Levoča: