The Guggenheim Bilbao — theculturetrip.com

Inaugurated by King Juan Carlos I in 1997, this radical museum brought modern architecture soaring into the third millennium in style – with the city of Bilbao in tow. Almost overnight, the landmark transformed this northern Spanish city from a declining post-industrial centre, once famed for its shipbuilding, into a cultural and architectural hub. The museum, set in the city’s former industrial district, spearheaded Bilbao’s urban regeneration project and turned the city into a tourist hotspot, with the resulting influx of visitors meaning that the building—which cost US$100 million to build—has more than paid for itself. The museum’s miraculous transformation of the city resulted in the coining of the term the “Guggenheim effect”.

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