On 17^th June 2016 the new Tate Modern will be unveiled to the public. The brand new building, situated just behind the present gallery on Bankside, is designed by Herzog & de Meuron and has cost £260m.

The opening will be accompanied by a complete re-hang of the collection, and allow for the display of new acquisitions. The extension will increase the total display space by 60%, and allow Tate to continue in its ambition to present an international perspective on modern art. The Tate currently has 70,000 works in its permanent collection.

Nicholas Serota, Director of Tate said “The new Tate Modern is an instrument that will allow us to offer a rich variety of experiences to visitors and opportunities to artists for different kinds of presentation of their work.”

As visitor figures to Tate reach new heights, the opening is timely. The Tate received record-breaking number of visitors 7.9 million for the year 2014 to 2015, with the majority (5.7 million) visiting Tate Modern.

The director of Tate Modern, Chris Dercon said “Art is one of the most dynamic and engaged forms of human behaviour, and when people step into a museum today, they don’t want to step out of their life, they want to get closer to it. The new Tate Modern will be so much more than a container for art, it will be a platform for human encounters.”