A $10,000 grant from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation will allow art patrons and students a new way to gain understanding about the 15th century Spanish altarpiece at the University of Arizona Museum of Art.

The grant will allow for the programming and design of an interactive CD-ROM that will provide museum visitors with the history, aesthetics and technical aspects of the Retablo of the Cathedral of Cuidad Rodrigo.

The CD's will be distributed free of charge to public libraries and schools throughout Arizona.

The Retablo was created between 1480 and 1488 by Fernando Gallego and his assistants. The original set of 50 panels mounted behind the altar of the cathedral were reduced to 26 by the ravages of time and war. The remaining panels came to the UA Museum of Art in the early 1950s as part of a gift from Kress.

Jose Bertrand, the museum's minority outreach coordinator and designer of the CD-ROM, said he expects the program will be available for use by November.