Six competing designs for Dundee's new £47m outpost of the Victoria and Albert museum, due to open in 2014, were unveiled last week. One looks like a pair of squatting armadillos; another resembles a futuristic 3D visor; a third would sit on the river Tay like a glittering box of light. Whichever design wins, it will transform the skyline of Scotland's fourth largest city, just as Frank Gehry's Guggenheim museum did for Spain's Bilbao in 1997. So how do the two northern, post-industrial cities compare?
Bilbao
Population: Around 353,168. Language: A sensitive issue, to say the least. The national language is, naturally, Spanish; but as the largest city in the Basque country, Bilbao's other official language is "Euskera", or Basque.
Industry: Historically centred on mining, steel, ship-building and banking; today, the city is more focused on tourism.
Insurrectionary past: Bilbao has suffered from its association with the Basque separatists Eta, whose violent campaign has killed more than 820 people over 40 years.
Culture: Did I mention the Guggenheim? That's pretty much where it's at – though there is also a symphony orchestra, an opera company, and a big summer rock festival that attracts bands such as Metallica and Iron Maiden.
Cuisine: The Basques favour an adventurous blend of fish, meats and vegetables, drawing on their enviable position between the Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay. Classic recipes include baby eels in garlic – ugh – and quails in chocolate sauce.
Dundee
Population: Around 143,000. Language: English, nominally; though the Dundonian dialect may stump visitors. For example you may hear this after several days under Dundee's slate-grey skies: "Yer lookin' affy peely-wally th' day" (translation: "You're looking terribly pale today").
Industry: Known historically as the home of "jute, jam and journalism" for its now-defunct jute mills, marmalade factory (local woman Janet Keiller is reputed to have invented the preserve in the late 1700s), and DC Thomson, publishers of the Beano, the Dandy and, incongruously, I'm Pregnant magazine. Today, it's software development and biotechnology.
Insurrectionary past: Almost 10,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the 80s, leading to violent industrial disputes and sit-ins.
Culture: For art and film, the trendy, glass-walled Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre; for theatre, the top-class Dundee Rep (where David "the Doctor" Tennant cut his teeth).
Cuisine: Not all deep-fried. Local delicacies include the "bridie", a hot meat pasty; and, of course, the eponymous whisky-soaked cake.
