General Information

The Musée Valentin Haüy is a private museum dedicated to tools and education of the blind. It contains objects, equipment, and books from 1771 to the present day that document the history of tools and education for the visually impaired. Next to the museum there is also a library devoted to the history of blindness.

Additional Information

The museum was established in 1886, and named in honour of Valentin Haüy (1745–1822), the founder of the first school for the blind. It is now operated by the Association Valentin Haüy. The library by the museum stocks a unique collection of several thousand books, including French and foreign reviews and miscellaneous documents, some of which are extremely old, all related to blindness and visual impairment. The library includes literature (novels, biographies, essays, poetry and drama) written by the blind, books written by the sighted about the blind, as well as various works dealing with psychology, education, everyday life, art, history, medicine, social issues and handicaps in general.