How to Engage a Child in a Museum: One Sculpture in Batumi That Truly Works

How to Engage a Child in a Museum: One Sculpture in Batumi That Truly Works

The sculpture Nymph and Little Faun at the Adjara State Art Museum greets visitors on the second floor, right at the entrance to the exhibition of Georgian artists.

The author of the composition is Emilio Santarelli, an Italian neoclassical sculptor and graduate of the Florence Academy of Fine Arts. He created religious and mythological scenes; among his well-known works are the statue of Michelangelo in the portico of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and several monumental mid-19th-century monuments.

Children especially love this sculpture.
They eagerly explore the details:

• searching for what makes the faun different from an ordinary boy;

• guessing which animal’s skin the nymph is lying on;

• noticing facial expressions, gestures, tiny elements — and asking dozens of questions.