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The Bilbao: Basque Country's Grand Structure

© Judith Stock

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened on October 19, 1997, in the industrial north coast capital of Spain's Basque Country. The $100,000 million showpiece and stunning Frank Gehry designed building is an international attraction.

The building alone is art in its most rarefied form. An extraordinary work of modern architecture, the initial impact of the structures' swirling, titanium-clad exterior is reminiscent of some of the Old World buildings of monolithic portion. Its dimensions create a museum building conducive to the exhibition of large-scale modern and contemporary art.

The 256,000 square foot museum is a series of interconnecting building shapes focused on a soaring 165-foot atrium of unprecedented size. The buildings stretch underneath one of Bilbao's busiest traffic bridges, the Puente de la Salve, incorporating the structure into the museum's design. Add to this, a sculptural metallic roof that unifies the project into a single architectural composition.

A collaborative effort between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Basque authorities, the Guggenheim Bilbao has literally revitalized the region. Undergoing extensive renewal, along with a number of other major urban re-development projects, is the area running along the riverbank by the museum.

The interior of the building is equally spectacular. There are 19 galleries, each one unique, illuminated mainly by natural light from the walls of glass walls and the atrium.

Even the museum's restaurants are first-class. The dining room is so popular, guests have learned to be patient, since it often takes a month to obtain a reservations at this fine eating establishment.

From its vast holdings of art the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation provides rotating selections for its counterpart in New York. Among the prestigious collection of art at the Bilbao are paintings by Chagall, Kandinsky, Matisse, Picasso, Pollock, Rothko, and Lichtenstein. Contemporary art is well represented by Jenny Holzer, Richard Serra, and Francesco Clemente. Antoni Tapies and Eduardo Chillida are some of the Spanish artists included in the museum.

Deemed by the architect Phillip Johnson, "the greatest building of our time" the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is truly an edifice to the richness of art.

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