In December 1992, the Tate (which at the time was only the Tate Britain) announced its intention to divide the displays of its collection in London between two sites: a gallery to be devoted to British art from 1500 to today, and a gallery for international modern and contemporary art, now called the Tate Modern. This museum is now the most visited site in London with 4.6 million visitors in 2008, and has built a name for itself as one of the most loved and popular venues to discover modern art. While all the great talents of the past century have been shown there (Duchamp, Rotchenko, Braque, … (read more)

In December 1992, the Tate (which at the time was only the Tate Britain) announced its intention to divide the displays of its collection in London between two sites: a gallery to be devoted to British art from 1500 to today, and a gallery for international modern and contemporary art, now called the Tate Modern. This museum is now the most visited site in London with 4.6 million visitors in 2008, and has built a name for itself as one of the most loved and popular venues to discover modern art. While all the great talents of the past century have been shown there (Duchamp, Rotchenko, Braque, only to name a few), new and upcoming artists have their place too with daring collecting policies and events like street art shows displayed throughout the city, UBS's Long Weekend or the Unilever series in the Turbine Hall.

The success is so grand and the collection expanding so quickly that Herzog and de Meuron have been commissioned to build a second building (Tate 2) near the old oil tanks that used to fuel the power plant. Due for the spring of 2012, Tate 2 will have over 5,000 m² of new gallery space for performance, film, changing installations and displays, and also more auditoriums, study rooms, shops and restaurants to welcome its visitors.

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