Opening of Tate Modern

Tate Modern, a museum of international modern and contemporary art, opened on the south bank of the River Thames in London in 2000. Housed in a former power station, it quickly became one of the most visited art museums in the world, and it reshaped how galleries present recent art, how cities use industrial buildings, and how large audiences engage with the avant-garde.

The building was Bankside Power Station, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect also known for the red telephone box and Battersea Power Station. Built in stages after the Second World War, it generated electricity until it closed in 1981, a casualty of rising oil prices and changing energy needs. The huge brick structure, with its central chimney, then stood largely empty. Meanwhile the Tate, which had long shown both British art and international modern work at its Millbank site, was short of space. In the mid-1990s it chose Bankside as the home for a new gallery devoted to modern art, while the Millbank building became Tate Britain.

The Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron won the competition to convert the site. Rather than disguise the power station, they kept its character: the vast Turbine Hall, running the length of the building, became a dramatic entrance and public space, and the exterior remained largely intact. The museum opened to the public in May 2000, with a ceremony attended by Queen Elizabeth II. The Millennium Bridge, a pedestrian crossing linking the site to St Paul's Cathedral, opened around the same time, though it was closed soon afterward to address an unexpected swaying problem and reopened in 2002.

Tate Modern also made a notable curatorial choice. Instead of arranging its collection strictly by date or artist, early displays grouped works by theme, such as landscape, the nude, and still life, mixing periods and styles. This approach drew both praise for its freshness and criticism from those who felt it blurred art-historical development. Over time the museum adjusted its hangings, but the debate showed how much the opening had stirred up ideas about how art should be shown.

The Turbine Hall became famous for commissioned installations, including works by Louise Bourgeois, Olafur Eliasson, and Ai Weiwei, which drew very large crowds. Visitor numbers far exceeded early expectations, and the museum became a central part of London's cultural life. It also helped inspire the regeneration of Southwark and the South Bank, and served as a model for other cities converting industrial sites into cultural venues. An extension, the Blavatnik Building, opened in 2016, adding galleries and a viewing level.