3 December – International Day of Persons with Disabilities

The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia has been nominated for the Riga State City Municipality Award as a cultural venue that offers inclusive cultural content and promotes accessibility for people with disabilities. This recognition affirms the Museum’s efforts to make visits accessible to all visitors, regardless of their physical abilities.
Our Museum is the first one in Latvia to be included this summer in the list of European and other global museums that offer video guides in Latvian and International Sign languages for people who are hard of hearing or deaf. Any visitor with hearing impairments can borrow a tablet free of charge at the Museum’s ticket counter and explore the exhibition while watching a video guide or use video guide recordings available on the Museum’s YouTube channel. “Ensuring exhibition accessibility for people with hearing impairments is not expensive; the main factor is goodwill. A sign language interpreter, a video recording, and the necessary technical equipment are enough to create a tool that significantly improves the experience for this group of visitors. In 2026, our Museum plans to prepare a similar tool for the exhibition ‘History of the KGB in Latvia’ at the Corner House, as well as continue working on other accessibility improvements,” said the Museum’s director, Solvita Vība, while introducing the new video guides.
Already during the Museum’s reconstruction and the planning of the new exhibition, special attention was paid to the comfort of visitors with disabilities. An elevator, special ramps and lifts were installed in the exhibition hall, allowing people with mobility impairments to move independently throughout the exhibition and other public places in the Museum. For blind visitors, stair railings and the elevator are equipped with Braille markings, and audio guides are available in several languages, as well as the option to listen to video testimonies in the exhibition.
Visitors who are hard of hearing can use an induction loop both in the lobby and in the exhibition, allowing their hearing devices to be set to the mode that reduces background noise. Video testimonies on the exhibition screens include subtitles in Latvian and English, enabling visitors to read the words of the historical witnesses.

Please note that admission to the Museum is free for people with disabilities.