Tate Britain

The Tate Britain is an art museum located in the City of Westminster in London.

It is part of the Tate gallery network, along with Tate Modern in London, Tate Liverpool and Tate St. Ives. All of the galleries are named in honour of their founder, Henry Tate. At first all the collections were stored in the building that now houses the Tate Britain museum under the name of Tate Gallery or National Gallery of British Art. The gallery opened on 21 July 1897 as the National Gallery of British Art, but became commonly known as Tate Gallery. In 1988, its collection started to be divided into different sections which in consequence led to the creation of Tate Modern, the contemporary art museum, in 2001.

The museum displays a permanent collection of paintings dating from 1500 to today, including numerous works by JMW Turner which are shown in the Clore Gallery. The artist bequeathed his works to the nation on condition that they were all together. The Clore Gallery contains oils, watercolours and sketches made by JMW Turner. Other major exhibitions are grouped together according to the time when they were painted. The oldest painting in the museum is titled 'A Man in Black Cape' and was created in 1545 by Jonh Bettes.

Tate Britain and Tate Modern are connected through the Tateboat, a boat that transports visitors on the River Thames from Millbank, where Tate Britain is located, to Southwark.

Architecturally the building that houses the Tate Britain is in Neoclassical style, with the main entrance with columns crowned with a pediment. The portico is surmounted by a big dome. The central sculpture gallery was designed by John Russell Pope.