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Level 3 – Intermediate
The Tate Modern
The Tate’s new museum for modern art opened in May 2000 in the former Bankside power station in London. The transformation of the industrial complex, which was designed in 1947 and supplied electricity to London until it was closed in 1981, has cost 134.5 million pounds. But most observers are extremely impressed with the result and believe that it is worth every penny.
Nicholas Serota, director of Britain’s Tate Galleries, chose the site which is in a lively and fast-developing area of London because he believes that today’s artists do not like purpose-built galleries and that modern art needs space. But his best decision was the choice of the Swiss visionary architects, Herzog and de Meuron. They were clever enough not to transform the basic design of the building.
They made a feature of the gigantic turbine room by transforming it into a 35-metre-high entrance hall where visitors walk down a wide ramp.
In all there are 84 galleries consisting of well-lit, white boxes of varying sizes and with floors of unpolished wood or concrete. These are particularly well-suited to modern art because they are extremely plain and won’t distract from the works of art.
There are spectacular views of St Paul’s Cathedral from the windows of the gallery with the finest view of all from the rooftop restaurant. It almost seems as if the cathedral is a great work of art which was commissioned specially for the new Tate Gallery.
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Answer the questions below to check how well you understand the text.
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C2 Mastery
