The Pompidou Centre, or Centre Pompidou, is an important art and cultural space in Paris that will likely be familiar to many for the covered external staircase that snakes across its famous facade. Located in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil, and the Marais, it was designed in a high-tech architectural style by a team of architectural juggernauts including Richard Rogers, Su Rogers, Renzo Piano, and Gianfranco Franchini.
Named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974, and the person who commissioned the building, it was officially opened to the public in 1977 as a space to house the vast Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), the Musée National d'Art Moderne (the largest modern art museum in Europe), and IRCAM (a centre for the research of music and acoustics). Having welcomed over 190 million visitors since opening, it is a major tourist attraction and fixture of Parisian cultural life and it is easy to understand why; an architectural gem and marvel in its own right, it also houses three such incredible cultural institutions, all under one roof.
Named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974, and the person who commissioned the building, it was officially opened to the public in 1977 as a space to house the vast Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), the Musée National d'Art Moderne (the largest modern art museum in Europe), and IRCAM (a centre for the research of music and acoustics). Having welcomed over 190 million visitors since opening, it is a major tourist attraction and fixture of Parisian cultural life and it is easy to understand why; an architectural gem and marvel in its own right, it also houses three such incredible cultural institutions, all under one roof.
Come and see works by the likes of Matisse, Picasso, Dubuffet, Andy Warhol, Niki de Saint Phalle, Anish Kapoor, and more in the permanent collections, experience the internationally renowned exhibitions that are organised each year on the top floor, and take in the astounding view over Paris and her rooftops that is afforded from the building's windows. The museum is, thankfully and finally, reopening to the public after the events of recent months on the 1st of July 2020, with a large retrospective dedicated to the artist Christo showing until the 19th of October 2020 and then an exhibition dedicated to Matisse opening on the 21st of October 2020. So, once you manage to get to Paris and France once more, be sure to seek out this extraordinary gem and cultural heart of the city.