Description
Tate Modern is the UK's national gallery of international modern and contemporary art, in a former power station on the south bank of the Thames, right across the river from St Paul's. Its permanent collection is free, and the huge brick building is as much a draw as what hangs inside.
The power station was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed Battersea's, and built between 1947 and 1963: a brick giant 200 meters long, with a 99-meter chimney. It closed in 1981. The Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron won the competition to convert it in 1995 and changed surprisingly little. The Queen opened it in May 2000.
The big surprise is the Turbine Hall, the six-story space where the generators once stood. It is now a stage for giant works made for it every year, from Louise Bourgeois to Ai Weiwei, among them Kara Walker's 13-meter fountain and Superflex's swings.
The collection covers art from 1900 to today, from Picasso and Matisse to Warhol and Rothko, and it is hung by theme rather than by date, so a painting from 1910 may sit beside one from last year. That makes you look, rather than read.
The Blavatnik Building, the ten-story tower of 2016, adds more galleries. It was first designed as a glass pyramid and became a twisting brick latticework, to match the old building. At the top, the viewing level looks across the river to St Paul's and over the whole city.
Below it all are the Tanks, the power station's former oil tanks, now the world's first museum galleries permanently dedicated to live art.
The place was nearly lost. When it shut in 1981, developers wanted it gone and a request to protect it was refused. Then the Tate came looking for room for its modern art, and the "machine for making electricity" became a museum.
Success beat every forecast. In its first year the museum drew 5.25 million visitors, more than twice what the three Tate galleries had attracted together the year before.
Don't miss
• The Turbine Hall.
• The Tanks.
• The viewing level of the Blavatnik Building.
• The thematic galleries.
Did you know?
• Part of the old power station stayed an electrical substation, even after the museum opened.
• The conversion cost £134 million.
• With 4.5 million visitors in 2025, it is the most popular art gallery in the UK.
The power station was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed Battersea's, and built between 1947 and 1963: a brick giant 200 meters long, with a 99-meter chimney. It closed in 1981. The Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron won the competition to convert it in 1995 and changed surprisingly little. The Queen opened it in May 2000.
The big surprise is the Turbine Hall, the six-story space where the generators once stood. It is now a stage for giant works made for it every year, from Louise Bourgeois to Ai Weiwei, among them Kara Walker's 13-meter fountain and Superflex's swings.
The collection covers art from 1900 to today, from Picasso and Matisse to Warhol and Rothko, and it is hung by theme rather than by date, so a painting from 1910 may sit beside one from last year. That makes you look, rather than read.
The Blavatnik Building, the ten-story tower of 2016, adds more galleries. It was first designed as a glass pyramid and became a twisting brick latticework, to match the old building. At the top, the viewing level looks across the river to St Paul's and over the whole city.
Below it all are the Tanks, the power station's former oil tanks, now the world's first museum galleries permanently dedicated to live art.
The place was nearly lost. When it shut in 1981, developers wanted it gone and a request to protect it was refused. Then the Tate came looking for room for its modern art, and the "machine for making electricity" became a museum.
Success beat every forecast. In its first year the museum drew 5.25 million visitors, more than twice what the three Tate galleries had attracted together the year before.
Don't miss
• The Turbine Hall.
• The Tanks.
• The viewing level of the Blavatnik Building.
• The thematic galleries.
Did you know?
• Part of the old power station stayed an electrical substation, even after the museum opened.
• The conversion cost £134 million.
• With 4.5 million visitors in 2025, it is the most popular art gallery in the UK.