Tate Modern Museum, London - Travel Guide

One of the many highly-regarded museums in London is Tate Modern. This museum is famous all over the world particularly because it owns the biggest collection of modern art all across Europe. Aside from its name, it is also known as Britain’s National Gallery of Modern Art. Tate Modern is a part of the prestigious Tate Group alongside Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate Online and Tate St. Ives.

If you are having a trip in London, do not miss out Tate Modern. Being a former Bankside Power Station, you will find the museum in London Borough of Southwark’s Bankside area. Tate Modern takes pride of its vast collection of British art from the 1900’s up to the modern times, as well as international collection contemporary art, all of which arranged thematically. Among all modern art museums in the world, Tate Modern is the most-visited one, generating more than 4 million of visitors per year. 

In 1992, there was a competition to construct a building that will give home to the country’s modern art. In 1995, emerged as winners were Herzog & de Meuron. The builders, instead of demolishing the old power station, resurrected the building back to life. After it was finished, the Tate Modern became the representation of what ‘’adaptive reuse’’ is like—the process of resurrecting old buildings by infusing new life.

From the outside, you will notice that Tate Modern still exude that 20th century factory-style façade—only today, there are accents of creativity and modernity to give the building a facelift. The interior, on the other hand, is characterized by concrete floors, taupe walls and steel girders. Half of the main building is where an enormous collection of contemporary art and modern designs gathered not just in Britain but from the entire globe are showcased. Tate Modern has four wings and each wing is categorized according to the art’s subject or theme.

The most stunning feature of the Tate Modern must be the prodigious Turbine Hall, once housed by the electricity generators of the old Bankside Power Station. The Turbine Hall is a five-storey structure, and each floor occupies a vast space of 3,400 sq.mt. The hall was recently used as a venue for commissioned works of budding contemporary artists. Now, it serves as a hall for important events and exhibitions relating to art. 

Because Tate Modern is one of the important assets of London when it comes to heritage and art, a tour to this spectacular establishment should not be missed when traveling to this side of the city. The closest station is Blackfriars through the new entry on the south. Southwark, St Paul's and Mansion House north of the river via Millenium Bridge are other options. Between Southwark tube station and Tate Modern, there were lamp posts that signals the way to the museum.