Tate Modern, London

Tate Modern is an art gallery housed in the converted Bankside Power Station, bringing a former industrial building into the life of international modern and contemporary art. The conversion was designed by Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. The vast turbine hall remains part of the gallery, preserving the building’s immense industrial scale.

Its collection presents the United Kingdom’s national holdings of international modern and contemporary art, with works dating from 1900 to today. The newer tower extension continues the architectural language of the power station through a sloping façade formed from a brick lattice. Beneath it, former oil tanks have become the Tanks, spaces used for live performance art and installations.

Tate Modern opened to the public in 2000 and belongs to the wider Tate group, alongside Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. The gallery takes its name from Sir Henry Tate, the artist and benefactor associated with the Tate institution. From the heavy retained structure to the perforated brickwork of the extension, this is a museum shaped by its industrial past rather than hiding it.