The Centre Pompidou — Attraction in Paris

Centre Georges Pompidou (French pronunciation: ​[sɑ̃tʁ ʒɔʁʒ pɔ̃pidu]), commonly shortened to Centre Pompidou and also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourgarea of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, near Les Halles, rue Montorgueil, and the Marais. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano, along with Gianfranco Franchini. It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (Public Information Library), a vast public library; the Musée National d'Art Moderne, which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe; and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg (IPA: [bobuʁ]).[1][2][3] It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. As of 2006, the Centre Pompidou has had over 180 million visitors since 1977[4] and more than 5,209,678 visitors in 2013,[5] including 3,746,899 for the museum.[6]

The sculpture Horizontal by Alexander Calder, a free-standing mobile that is 7.6 m (25 ft) tall, was placed in front of the Centre Pompidou in 2012.

The idea for a multicultural complex, bringing together in one place different forms of art and literature, developed, in part, from the ideas of France's first Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, a western proponent of the decentralisation of art and culture by impulse of the political power.[7] In the 1960s, city planners decided to move the foodmarkets of Les Halles, historically significant structures long prized by Parisians, with the idea that some of the cultural institutes be built in the former market area. Hoping to renew the idea of Paris as a leading city of culture and art, it was proposed to move the Musée d'Art Moderne to this new location. Paris also needed a large, free public library, as one did not exist at this time. At first the debate concerned Les Halles, but as the controversy settled, in 1968, President Charles de Gaulle announced the Plateau Beaubourg as the new site for the library. A year later in 1969, the new president adopted the Beaubourg project and decided it to be the location of both the new library and a centre for the contemporary arts. In the process of developing the project, the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) was also housed in the complex.

By the mid-1980s, the Centre Pompidou was becoming the victim of its huge and unexpected popularity, its many activities, and a complex administrative structure. When Dominique Bozo returned to the Centre in 1981 as Director of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, he re-installed the museum, bringing out the full range of its collections and displayed the many major acquisitions that had been made.[8] By 1992, the Centre de Création Industrielle was incorporated into the Centre Pompidou.

Since re-opening in 2000 after a three-year renovation, the Centre Pompidou has improved accessibility for visitors. Now they can only access the escalators if they pay to enter the museum.[9]

Pompidou is genuinely a centre of modern/contemporary art go here only if you study or understand art/architecture and if you have a whole day to spare. The building looks like a complex piece of work from the outside but is not very difficult to understand its spread. Contains libraries(even digital), museums, art exhibitions, video/film galleries, restaurants etc. Very close to hôtel de ville or rambuteau metro stations (hardly any walk). Streets around are super lively and full of places to eat or chill. If you want to grab a quick bite stand at the entrance facing towards it and you will find this small place at your right hand side corner that has crepes with a funky guy entertaining you while making them fresh for you.

When you enter the building you will find two smaller libraries on both sides, washrooms on the left corner and multiple ticket counters and respective queues if you already know what exactly you want to buy. You will also have some kiosk machines in front of you where you can choose to buy tickets to all exhibits for 14€(snapshot below). Please skip buying the 5€ worth ticket for view of Paris from the top it's not the best part about pompidou. Take which ever kind of entry you wish and then walk towards the escalators on your left to the first floor sorts you will find another checkpoint post which you will be directed to these long escalators that run along one side edge of the building and take you to any level you wish to. We went directly to the top level and came trickling down after going through all the exhibitions and galleries.

Currently they have Victor Vasarely's shaping forms at gallery 2 till may'19. You would have seen his optic arts on many book covers, movies, or even logos (renault for instance). Checkout the snaps and if it interests you, Voila! Some other very interesting and eccentric works at other galleries as well.

An iconic museum in an iconic city.

The idea for a multicultural complex, bringing together in one place different forms of art and literature, developed, in part, from the ideas of France's first Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, a proponent of the decentralisation of art and culture by impulse of the political power. In the 1960s, city planners decided to move the foodmarkets of Les Halles, historically significant structures long prized by Parisians, with the idea that some of the cultural institutes be built in the former market area. Hoping to renew the idea of Paris as a leading city of culture and art, it was proposed to move the Musée d'Art Moderne to this new location. Paris also needed a large, free public library, as one did not exist at this time. At first the debate concerned Les Halles, but as the controversy settled, in 1968, President Charles de Gaulle announced the Plateau Beaubourg as the new site for the library. A year later in 1969, Georges Pompidou, the new president, adopted the Beaubourg project and decided it to be the location of both the new library and a centre for the contemporary arts. In the process of developing the project, the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) was also housed in the complex.

The Rogers and Piano design was chosen among 681 competition entries. World-renowned architects Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Prouvé and Philip Johnson made up the jury. It was the first time in France that international architects were allowed to participate. The selection was announced in 1971 at a "memorable press conference" where the contrast between the sharply-dressed Pompidou and "hairy young crew" of architects represented a "grand bargain between radical architecture and establishment politics."