‘Unique’ library of smells opens to help blind children learn more about the world
A unique archive of over 6,000 smells has been opened at a Centre for Blind Children to help them learn more about the world around them.
Located in the village of Owińska near Poznań, and styled to resemble an old apothecary, the Aromatorium will include a diverse variety of smells, from traditional perfumes, essential oils and herbal extracts, to more unusual smells such as powdered amber, a train engine, and various animals including elephant dung sourced from Poznań Zoo.
From traditional perfumes, essential oils and herbal extracts, the Aromatorium will also include more unusual smells such as powdered amber, a train engine, and various animals such as elephant dung sourced from Poznań Zoo.
Natalia Grajewska, deputy director for care and education, revalidation and rehabilitation at the Special Education Centre for Blind Children at Owińska (SOSW dla Dzieci Niewidomych w Owińskach), said: "Smell is an extremely important sense for the functioning of visually impaired people, but also for us who can see, even though we do not always notice it or pay attention to it.
“It constitutes a very important element in moving around inside buildings and outside. It's thanks to smell that we locate aims that we want to reach.
Natalia Grajewska, deputy director for care and education, revalidation and rehabilitation at the Special Education Centre for Blind Children at Owińska said: “Thanks to the Aromatorium, people who are unable to see will be able to train their recognition of smells and experience them.
“Thanks to the Aromatorium, people who are unable to see will be able to train their recognition of smells and experience them."
Marek Jakubowski, a teacher at the centre added: "When the children were being educated remotely for a year, we came up with the idea that we would send them various materials from our garden to decipher, a game, but also learning.
The Aromatorium will serve the 140 children under the care of the Special Education Centre for Blind Children at Owińska where scent, aromatherapy and revalidation lessons will be held.
“It was then that students started sending us smells from their homes. In this way, what started out as an unusual game, transformed into the idea of creating a library."
The scents for the library were not only sent by students, but also by people from across Poland and even from abroad.
On a day to day basis, the Aromatorium will serve the 140 children under the care of the Special Education Centre for Blind Children at Owińska where scent, aromatherapy and revalidation lessons will be held, but it will also be open to visits from residents and tourists upon prior arrangement.
Poznań county councilor Jan Grabkowski said: "We want people who leave here to be prepared for life, people who can function independently in life.
Poznań county councilor Jan Grabkowski said: "We want people who leave here to be prepared for life, people who can function independently in life.
“This is our aim, this is education. There are teachers here who once graduated from this centre and they know how important the education of visually impaired people is...these people canot be...on the margins of our society."
According to the County Office of Poznań, the Aromatorium is unique on not only a Polish but also on a European scale.
