The Tate Modern in London is Britain’s national museum of international modern art and is, with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives, and Tate Online, part of the group now known simply as Tate.

The galleries are housed in the former Bankside Power Station, which was originally designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, the architect of Battersea Power Station, and built in two stages between 1947 and 1963. The power station closed in 1981. The building was converted by architects Herzog & de Meuron and contractors Carillion, after which it stood at 99m tall. The history of the site as well as information about the conversion was the basis for a documentary made in 2008 titled Architects Herzog and de Meuron: Alchemy of Building & Tate Modern. The southern third of the building was retained by the French power company EDF Energy as an electrical substation (in 2006, the company released half of this holding).

Since the museum’s opening on 12 May 2000, it has become a destination for Londoners and tourists. Entry to collection displays and some temporary exhibitions is free.

While Nicky is at work, Sara has been exploring London’s art scene, and one of the must sees in this City is the Tate Morden, just across from St Paul’s via the Millenium bridge. It used to be a Power station after the world war, and its chimney was built so it was not taller than St Pauls. Today, its a morden art museum known for its interesting displays. Admission is usually free unless there is a special exhibition. Do check it out

On this day in History..

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• YHH, the honored guest blogger of the day.. - 2005
• Of Frozen Jeans... - 2005
• Project Cooking Pasta... - 2005
• Leaving on a Jet Plane... - 2006
• Mommy and Daddy - 2006
• Saigon Secrets : Saigon Beer - 2007
• Saigon Secrets :- Deep Fried Tofu and Mom Tum - 2007
• Saigon Secrets : CÆ¡m tấm - 2007

Tags: England, london, morden, tate, thames, Travel

This entry was posted on Friday, November 14th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.