A Holistic View on Contemporary Art Museums in the Context of Accessible Tourism - Case Studies from Central Europe

The issues for the societies where all people live and receive service equally without discrimination, are growing rapidly nowadays in the world and also studies in Accessible Tourism (Tourism for All) are carried out on this principle, too. According to World Health Organization 15% of the world's population is disabled. Disability is now accepted as an “umbrella term”, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. New definition of disability including temporary obstacles (new age diseases, pregnancy, aging, etc) has changed the size of target audience. In addition, the integrity of the tourism chain, which consists of accessible information, accessible transportation, accessible infrastructure and accessible service, has removed Accessible Tourism from niche market. As an innovative and human-centered design, which serves tourism and cities, Contemporary Art Museum topic has become attractive for persons with disabilities who have increased opportunities to participate in life around the world. It is especially important that these museums have to be accessible and inclusive to serve the public on equal terms. Because the dialogue of contemporary art museums with today's society, distinguishes them from other museums via awareness, interpretation, feedback and interactive education (public programs) and takes the program beyond the building and collection. The aim of this study is; to generate ideas about building and urban programming for national museums in the light of analysis of the museology practices in Europe considering accessible tourism. Within the scope of the study, accessible tourism practices in Vienna, Budapest and Prague were examined, and case studies were applied on contemporary / modern art museums selected in those cities. Physical accessibility of the museums was evaluated according to the Access-audit forms and supported by visual records. After the synthesis of the obtained data, comparative analyzes were done based on accessible tourism principles. This study will provide a comprehensive overview about Museum for All via integrating single building with the urban scale in the light of the Universal Design Principles beyond listing limited current accessibility information about selected museums.