Centre Georges Pompidou Paris : Paris Tourism

Place Georges Pompidou
75004 Paris

Opens everyday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
closes on tuesday and on the first of May
Museum and exhibitions 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
cashier closes at 8 p.m., rooms close at 8.50 p.m.

Atelier Brancusi opens everyday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.,closes on tuesday.
Public Library of Information (BPI)
week days: opens from 12 a.m. to 10 p.m.
saturday, sunday and public holidays:
opens from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

President Georges Pompidou desired to open a cultural centre in which a museum and a creation centre would be assembled. The ItalianRenzo Piano, and the Englishman Richard Rogers were the two chosen architects of the competition.
The shape of the building induced a strong polemic. Indeed all the air cooling systems as well as the heating tubes, the supporting elements, and the automatic stairs were fixed on the outside walls, permitting to leave more space inside, at a heavy cost of aesthetics, some say. This is the reason why the integration of the “Ferry of culture” was hardly accepted in the neighbourhood.

Astonishingly, the centre was a victim of its own success : experts expected 5 000 visitors, but the reality was of some 25 000 visitors per day! The centre was closed until December 1999 in order to place more exhibitions.
Today the polemic is over and the centre managed its integration in the Parisian landscape. All kinds of modern creation is united inside :
-The first floor houses three rooms and a cinema, the hall consists of a meeting place with its shops and cafés. The Public Library of Information (BPI) occupies the second and the third floors. The fourth and fifth floors are devoted to the National Museum of Modern Arts. A restaurant and a terrace with a splendid view are available on the sixth floor.
Welcome to modernity!