Guide to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

In 1991, the Basque Government proposed that the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation fund a museum in the decrepit port area of Bilbao. The government agreed to finance construction, acquisitions, and operations, while the Foundation provided management, collection rotation, and exhibition programming.

Beginning in the fall of 1993, architects used Dassault Systèmes' CATIA software to digitize and model the museum's exterior. This process, learned from Rick Smith, allowed for the calculation of structural stresses and facilitated the automated cutting of materials like titanium and stone.

On 18 October 1997, King Juan Carlos I of Spain officially opened the museum to the public. The launch featured an exhibition of 250 contemporary works of art and followed a preopening extravaganza attended by thousands of local residents.

Following a 2008 audit that discovered missing funds, the museum filed a case against its finance director, Roberto Cearsolo Barrenetxea. He admitted to diverting money from companies managing the museum's building and collection into his own account since 1998.

In 2021, eighteen cleaning staff members initiated a labor strike that lasted for nine months. The action concluded in 2022 with an agreement providing the workers with raises and full-time employment contracts.

After initially looking into a 5,000 square meter expansion in the Urdaibai estuary in 2008, the project faced years of local and environmental opposition. The Guggenheim Foundation formally abandoned these plans in December 2025 citing environmental and urban planning constraints.