The Guggenheim Bilbao, belated

We've all seen the Guggenheim a million times in books and magazines, like one big blind contour in the middle of a city. The Guggenheim Bilbao is objectified in the media and in our world of architectural study, but to visit it, to see it situated in the city of Bilbao, to experience it for what it is to the city, for the city, and for the arts is an altogether different perspective that sheds light on the building itself and Gehry's success at creating such a sculptural piece of architecture that works on many different levels. Contextually complex, the Guggenheim creates moments throughout the city, and the city itself creates valuable moments for one standing in the Guggenheim. To visit the Guggenheim is to see that Bilbao, the city as we know it, would not exist without the monumental presence of the Guggenheim and that the building could not exist or thrive so successfully without the city of Bilbao, its location, and its culture. It is not the architecture alone but the relationship between the city and the building that makes Gehry's Guggenheim work.