Vienna's former imperial riding stables have been transformed into one of the world's largest art centres.

The Austrian city's MuseumsQuartier is housed in a mixture of elegant baroque and modern buildings.

The vast site will eventually house five museums and around 12 other cultural institutions.

After 13 years of planning, the �86m project should be completed by the summer of 2002.

Among the centres already open are the Kunsthalle Wien, which will features international contemporary artists working in multi-media.

Turner prize

Turner prize winner Steve McQueen was the first featured artist with his video and film work.

The Architekturzentrum Wien opened with the Detonation Deutschland exhibition.

Organisers opted for a staggered opening of the various centres and the second phase in September will see three more spaces open.

The Leopold Museum will house modern art such as Gustav Klimt and Otto Wagner and will include the largest collection of Ego Schiele in the world.

Children's theatre

The Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation will focus on international art of the 1980s and 1990s.

The final phase of the project will see a platform for young, contemporary cultural institutions open as well as a children's theatre.

Chief executive for the project, Wolfgang Waldner, said: "We're creating an ensemble of modern buildings and baroque buildings... and there is a tension between old and new that sort of permeates the whole project."

Some parts of MuseumsQuartier date back almost 300 years, when architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach was commissioned by Emperor Karl VI to design the imperial stables.

The project was completed in 1725 and, a century later, the buildings were redesigned and expanded.