May 12 in History

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.

On 12 May 2008, a magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck Sichuan Province in southwestern China, leaving roughly 87,000 people dead or missing, according to official Chinese figures. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in the country since the Tangshan disaster of 1976. Beyond the human toll, it exposed serious problems in school construction and prompted a large national relief effort and changes in how China prepared for disasters.