Tate Modern
Tate Modern turns a riverside power station into a cathedral of contemporary ideas. Since 2000 its Turbine Hall-152 metres long and 35 metres high-has hosted artworks at city scale, from a man-made sun to a carpet of porcelain seeds. Inside, you move between twentieth-century giants-Picasso, Rothko, Bourgeois-and global voices reshaping what art can be. The 2016 Blavatnik Building adds dramatic galleries and a 360° viewing platform over St Paul's and the Thames. Entry to the collection is free; major exhibitions are ticketed. Start in the Turbine Hall, then climb gradually to Level 10 for sunset views. Expect lively crowds, strong coffee, and a shop that tempts even sceptics.
Opening Hours
What's not to miss inside?
Turbine Hall
Epic site-specific installationsThis former power station hall, 35 metres high, has hosted monumental works since 2000, from Olafur Eliasson’s glowing sun to Ai Weiwei’s sunflower seeds.
📍 Ground Floor
Rothko Room
Abstract expressionist masterpiecesNine Seagram Murals by Mark Rothko, donated in 1970, immerse visitors in deep reds and maroons originally intended for a New York restaurant.
📍 Level 2, Boiler House
Viewing Platform
Panoramic views of LondonOpened in 2016, the platform offers 360° views of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Shard, and the Thames, drawing over a million visitors in its first year.
📍 Blavatnik Building, Level 10
Picasso Works
Iconic 20th-century artTate Modern owns several works by Picasso, including the 1937 painting ‘Weeping Woman’, created the same year as his anti-war masterpiece ‘Guernica’.
📍 Level 4, Boiler House
Switch House
Bold architectural expansionHerzog & de Meuron’s 2016 pyramid-like extension added roughly 60% more space, with brick lattice echoing the original Bankside Power Station.
📍 Blavatnik Building
Inspire your Friends
- Tate Modern opened in 2000 inside the former Bankside Power Station, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in the late 1940s.
- In 2023 Tate Modern attracted about 4.7 million visitors, the UK’s most-visited modern art museum.
- The Turbine Hall is 152 metres long - longer than St Paul’s Cathedral.
- Herzog & de Meuron’s Blavatnik Building cost around £260 million and opened in June 2016.
- Mark Rothko withdrew the Seagram Murals from a New York commission, later gifting them to Tate in 1970.
