The visitor profile of Beylerbeyi Place and an offer of an action plan guiding the visitor into participatory manner at place museums

In the thesis which was composed of six sections, serving the purposes of strengthening the communication of Beylerbeyi Palace Museum with the public, and making the Museum an institution that serves people in a much wider field, by determining the necessity of organizing educational, social and cultural activities, an action plan guiding the visitor in a participatory manner was suggested. In the first section, the relationship between people and museum from past to present was mentioned; and, the current position of the museum was stated through the definitions of visitors, volunteers and activities in relation with museum. In the second part, more detailed information about museums and their visitors was given. In the third section, the possible kinds of activities and the ways for the participation of visitors in them are examined. Depending on palace-museum definition, by examining the palace- museums both in Turkey and abroad, the kinds of activities leading the visitors into participitation were determined; and, the palace museums in Turkey and abroad were compared in the fourth section. In the next section, the activities were evaluated, by giving information about the history, the administrative structure, the gardens and the buildings, the collections, the visitor's profile and the activities of Beylerbeyi Palace Museum. In the last section of the thesis, in scope of the project which would lead the visitors in participatory manner, solutions were suggested for evaluating the questionnaires applied to museum visitors, for the content of Administrative Instructions and for activities offered for the museum in the basis of those instructions and for the ways of providing the staff which recommended to charge in these activities. To conclude the thesis on Beylerbeyi Palace Museum, in order to take place among the contemporary museums, it was seen that it is necessary to establish the educational, social and cultural activities, just like in the palace museums abroad. It is also seen that the museum has the sufficient sources for organizing those activities. Serving the all sources of the museum to public will make it turn into an institution which helps improving the historical consciousness and social development, by making the museum get closer to the people. IV