It’s a tradition which started in 1937 when wealthy American businessman, philanthropist and art lover Solomon Robert Guggenheim established a foundation to promote public appreciation of a “new kind of art in a new kind of space”. Guggenheim never lived to see the opening of the first purpose-built Guggenheim Museum in New York 1959. The extraordinary swirling pyramid was designed by one of the greatest architects of the 20 th century, Frank Lloyd Wright, and shattered all previous notions of what a museum was meant to look like. It opened in a blaze of controversy, hailed by some as a great architectural masterpiece and lambasted by critics who abhorred the fact that the building overshadowed the great works of art housed within it.

All credit, then, to the forward thinking city fathers and Basque regional government which decided to give Bilbao a major spring clean and a new lease of life to springboard it into the 21 st century as a modern, dynamic centre of culture and commerce. And the face of this “new Bilbao” was to be one of the most imaginative architectural feats ever undertaken in Europe – an art museum funded by the Basque government and run by the Guggenheim Foundation which agreed to supply priceless works from its collections in New York, Venice and Berlin.

A succesful creation by Frank O. Gehry

There’s no doubting that the exhibits struggle at times to compete with the huge sculpture which houses them. And that’s saying something when you consider that the museum has displayed the works of some of the greatest artists of all time – from Picasso and Van Gogh to Matisse, Degas and Monet.

There’s a strong emphasis on art for ordinary people reflected both in the building’s fluid design and its “pop art” type exhibitions which have included everything from an in-depth look at the development of the motorbike through to catwalk extravaganzas laid on by top clothes designers. This is not a building where arty academics pass judgment in hushed tones as they’re channelled from one frosty exhibition hall to another. This is a luminous and inviting place where excited school children launch themselves into a voyage of exploration via the curving walkways and glass lifts which inter-connect the 19 exhibition galleries. They may not give a Picasso masterpiece a second glance but huge snake and spider sculptures and the famous giant puppy monument, fashioned out of bedding plants renewed each spring, are sure to grab their attention.

Bilbao is no longer most famous as the capital of a region blighted by terrorist violence. The Guggenheim Museum has focused the world’s attention on a city which has pulled itself out of the industrial doldrums to become one of Europe’s favoured cultural tourism destinations.