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Bilbao Fine Arts Museum Reopens After Four‑Year Expansion

The Foster–Uriarte intervention adds the elevated Agravitas gallery alongside the Atrio Arriaga, expanding exhibition capacity to showcase the museum's encyclopedic Basque plus international collection.

Overview

  • The museum has completed a four‑year renovation by Norman Foster and Luis María Uriarte and is reopening to the public with the new spaces now finished.
  • Agravitas is a raised, light-filled exhibition volume of roughly 5,000–6,000 square metres that projects above the park and creates high-level galleries and terraces.
  • The Atrio Arriaga encloses the museum plaza with a glass wall and a six‑metre oculus, bringing the Arriaga fountain and outdoor sculptures into an indoor civic gathering space.
  • The expanded floorplate and new temporary galleries give the museum more room to show its encyclopedic holdings, including El Greco, Zurbarán, Goya, Gauguin, Bacon and Tàpies, alongside the region's core Basque collection.
  • The €46 million project includes new public‑program areas and major donated works on the upper terraces, a change meant to strengthen the museum's role as a social and cultural hub for Bilbao.