This paper will reflect upon the museum type in the wake of the discourse on the so-called "Bilbao Effect."The regularly-invoked effects of economic stimulation and iconicity - the system Terry Smith called the "iconomy" (Smith, 2006) - experienced by Bilbao after the opening of the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim in 1997 have shaped the status of museums as major public commissions of economic and cultural importance to their cities. This paper aims to argue that "Bilbao Effect", while somewhat a globalised concept, is not neatly transferable idea and its use as a category is limited. Two examples of recently opened museums will be discussed to demonstrate the way the Bilbao Effect figures in contemporary museum architecture and the limits of the concept. The examples will be discussed by looking at their architectural designs along with their reception by the public and potential visitors,exposing the cause and effect relationship of contemporary architectural design and the increased media and general public's attention.It further aims to investigate the translation of "iconicity tools" proven economically successful for the Guggenheim in Bilbao to two different museums. The first example is Museum of Twenty-First Century Arts (MAXXI) in Rome, Italy by Zaha Hadid Architects,opened 2010. This discourse questions the conceptual iconic qualities of the Bilbao Effect to MAXXI in a city whose image is already created by architectural icons, where the museum aims at changing the image of the Flaminio district. The second example is Museum aan de Stroom (MAS) in Antwerp, Belgium by Neutelings Riedijk Architects,opened 2011,which is a part of the urban renewal project of the Antwerp's suburb Het Eilandje. Framing the Bilbao Effect as primarily the successful instrument for city/suburb economical and urban regeneration, the paper treats this effect as a necessarily complex notion difficult to replicate but arguably widely sought, suggesting that it represents the concept with elusive mechanics.