Visitors with special needs

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts actively interacts with visitors with developmental and emotional disabilities. The museum offers sessions of art-therapy and guided tours.

Sensory security map of the Pushkin Museum space

Space of the museum, which is an architectural monument, is not always easily perceived by people with increased sensory sensitivity. The Pushkin Museum invited scientists, tutors and people on the autism spectrum to conduct a sensory audit of the museum space. These efforts culminated in a sensory security map which would help visitors with peculiar sensory perception feel more at ease in the museum.

The sensory security map of the Main Building can be obtained at the administrator’s desk or downloaded. The map of the 19th and 20th Century European and American Art Gallery is available through the link. Printed version of the sensory security map of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts differs from the majority of similar foreign maps in that it focuses on safe premises of the museum rather than on sensory risks. The map shows where to go if there is a risk of unwanted behavior in a person who has fallen into an unfamiliar situation or who has a reduced threshold of sensory sensitivity. More detailed information about risk areas in the museum and several sensory security levels is given on the Pushkin Museum’s website. It serves as a tool for planning a visit to the museum.

Social Story

For many kids and adults visiting a museum requires an advance preparation. To reduce anxiety and explain to the kid what he/she is faced with, we suggest reading and understanding the social story presented as a comic strip or photo collage.
Comic strip for Main Building
Comic strip for Gallery of 19th and 20th century European and American Art

Art Therapy

Art therapy is one of the behavioral therapy techniques used to treat psychological disorders and enhance mental health. The new experimental program designed to encourage artistic development of children with disabilities was launched in the halls of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and creative workshop of the Museion Children's Educational Center in 2006.

The purpose of the classes is to remove psychological restrictions, help children become more erudite and integrate on equal terms with other people into a single stream of culture. The museum provides access to new information, eternal and enduring values and treasures of world art.

Maria Dreznina – artist, teacher and art therapist, the creator of an art therapy workshop at the museum – who has worked with children for many years, managed to find certain methods and techniques of fine art aimed at making the kids get in touch with the world of culture and creativity, express their feelings and identity, and discover their creative talents. Thus, the child’s life is filled with new experiences, emotions, and sensations.

Group Tours

The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts arranges group theme tours for kids and adults at the request of an organization. You can download the request form HERE and send it to our e-mail: museum4all@arts-museum.ru.