Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

Frank Gehry's titanium-clad masterpiece that revitalized a city/Modern Buildings

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry and opened in 1997, is one of the most celebrated works of contemporary architecture. Its swirling titanium-clad forms cover 24,000 square meters of gallery space and rise 50 meters above the Nervion River. The building single-handedly transformed Bilbao from an industrial backwater into a global tourist destination, an economic phenomenon now known as the 'Bilbao Effect.' It looks like a fish made of aluminum foil, and that is meant as a compliment.