A visit to Königstein Fortress in Saxon Switzerland will be even more accessible from May 1st. According to the museum management, the existing offer has been expanded to include an audio guide in easy language and a video guide in sign language. Guided tours in simple language are also planned during a campaign week until May 10.
"Accessibility is a matter close to our hearts," said fortress director André Thieme. Everyone should be able to experience this historic site. "Stairs, steps and steep climbs are not the only obstacles; language can also be a barrier in museums." The new offerings now make cultural participation possible for an "extremely broad audience".
There is already a large elevator to the rocky plateau in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, wheelchair-accessible panoramic trails and exhibitions as well as a tactile model for the blind. The new audio guide is reportedly available in eleven languages, five of which are free of charge on cell phones. Children are guided through the history of the fortifications with a trilingual audio guide with age-appropriate content.
Audio content and video guide also available to download
In the video guide, a sign language guide leads deaf and hard of hearing people through twelve stations of the fortress history. The content and the audio tracks in easy language can be accessed free of charge via the fortress-koenigstein.orpheo.app, the audio guides in easy language are also available on loan on site - and soon there will also be a translation of the homepage of the fortress, one of the most popular excursion destinations in the Free State of Bavaria.
The medieval Bohemian royal castle, first mentioned in a document in 1241, later became a monastery, then a state fortress, a courtly festival site, an art depot and also a prison. Since 1955, the 9.5-hectare fortress area has been an open-air museum with over 50 buildings from different eras and half a million visitors from home and abroad every year.
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