Tate Modern

Tate Modern stands in the Bankside area of Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames. It occupies the converted Bankside Power Station, a massive brick building designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and built between 1947 and 1963. The power station closed in 1981 and stood empty until Tate Modern moved in. The building’s huge Turbine Hall, once filled with machinery, now hosts large-scale installations. The Switch House extension, a ten-storey tower, rises above the oil tanks below. The gallery is part of the Tate group, alongside Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is one of the world’s largest museums of modern and contemporary art. In 2025 it welcomed over four and a half million visitors, making it Britain’s most popular art gallery. The conversion cost £134 million and took five years to complete. The extension added 22,492 square metres of space, nearly doubling the display area. The Tanks, repurposed oil storage spaces, opened in 2012 and remain the first permanent galleries dedicated to live art. The Blavatnik Building, named after Sir Leonard Blavatnik, was funded partly by his donation. Inside, the Boiler House galleries show art from 1900 to the present. The Switch House tower houses eleven floors of galleries, with natural light on level four. A bridge across the Turbine Hall links the old building to the new tower. The Tanks host performances and installations, while the Turbine Hall displays monumental works. The building’s industrial past remains visible in the brick walls and steel frames. Visitors move between vast galleries and intimate rooms, all within a single converted power station.