The Tate Modern or the British National Museum of Modern Art is a gallery of contemporary art which belongs to the Tate Group. It is located in the London Borough of Southwark.

Since 2000 the museum has been operating in the former Bankside Power Station, the building of which was designed between 1947 and 1963 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to provide electricity throughout the district. Today, it is one of the most visited galleries of contemporary art in the world. The museum has been an important economic engine for the neighbourhood in which it is located.

The power station was closed in 1981 and its building was chosen to house the Tate Modern. That is why, it was renovated by the Swiss architectural company, Jacqes Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. The architects decided to keep the entire brick wall exterior, add a big chimney and renew all the interior rooms, such as the turbine room, so that they are suitable for hosting different exhibitions.

Tate Modern holds a permanent collection of contemporary art and offers free access to almost all of the exhibitions, except the temporary ones, in which case you have to buy a ticket to see them. Tate Modern was opened to the public in Bankside Power Station in 2001 and until then the collections were exhibited at the Tate Gallery, which was later renamed Tate Britain.

You can reach the museum from Tate Britain by Tateboat which links the London Eye and Tate Britain with the museum of contemporary art. Another way to reach the museum is by bus or tube and then on foot, crossing the Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian bridge created by Norman Foster that connects the north side of the Thames, where you can visit the St. Paul's Cathedral, with the south side, where in addition to the Tate Modern you can also find the Shakespeare Globe Theatre.

The collections of the Tate Modern by such famous artists as Salvador Dali, Roy Lichtenstein or Picasso date from the early twentieth century to the present.

Source of description: planerGO
Neighbourhood Southwark (LONDON)
Price definition of price
Geographical coordinates 51.5079836, -0.0946817
Address SE1 9 City of London, Bankside
Construction dates 1947 - 1963
Opening date 2006
More information official website

How to arrive