Center Georges Pompidou

Centre Georges Pompidou is located in the Beaubourg area of the IVe arrondissement of Paris (because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg) near Les Halles and the Marais. It houses a vast public library, the Industrial Design centre, exhibition galleries, cinemas, shows and concert halls, a contemporary music research centre (IRCAM) and, above all, the Musée National d'Art Moderne. It is named after Georges Pompidou, who was president of France from 1969 to 1974, and was opened on January 31, 1977.

Histoire

Designed by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Gianfranco Franchini, the building structure is very distinctive and marked the 1970s with its high tech appearance which provided a daring contrast to the old traditional aspect of the Beaubourg area. It has been described by critics as "an oil refinery in the centre of the city". The coloured external piping is the special feature of the building. Air conditioning ducts are blue, water pipes are green and electricity lines are yellow. Escalators are red. White ducts are ventilation shafts for the underground areas. Even the steel beams that make up the Pompidou Centre's framework are on the outside. The intention of the architects was to place the various service elements (electricity, water etc.) outside of the building's framework and therefore turn the building "inside out".
The Musée National d'Art Moderne is the French national modern art museum located on the fourth and fifth floors of the Centre. The museum has a major international collection of modern art by artists such as Kandinsky, Matisse, Miró, Picasso, etc. Some of the art movements represented are Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. It has 50,000 works of art (including painting, sculpture, drawing, and photography), of which 1,500 to 2,000 are on public display.
Also located here is the Centre of Industrial Design. 20th century architecture and design are covered. The museum has a rolling programme of important temporary exhibitions.
The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers such as mimes and jugglers.
LINK: Site of Center Pompidou