About Tate Modern
Before it hung paintings, the building generated electricity: it was Bankside Power Station, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, the same architect as Battersea Power Station. Herzog & de Meuron handled the conversion, and the museum opened in 2000 as the home of Britain's national collection of international art from 1900 onward.
The heart of the place is the Turbine Hall, where the generators once stood and which now hosts commissioned works in a space the size of an industrial cathedral. In 2016 came the extension now called the Blavatnik Building. With about 4.5 million visitors in 2025, it was the most visited art gallery in the United Kingdom.
