The Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou in Paris is a center dedicated to the study and support of various artistic disciplines (painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, silent movies, music, choreography, theater, architecture and others). It is popularly called the “Centre Georges-Pompidou” or the “Centre Beaubourg” as it is located in the Beaubourg district of Paris IV.
The Centre Georges Pompidou is a mixture of architectural styles
In 1969, the first year of his presidential term, Georges Pompidou set out to modernize the country technically, and as a great lover of art, he decided to create a cultural center on a vacant lot in the Beaubourg district. A competition was immediately announced for the architectural design of the building, with 681 entries from 50 countries.
An international jury selected the project of three young architects: Renzo Piano, Gianfranco Franchini and Richard Rogers. The project was to construct a glass building in the form of a parallelepiped with escalators and some constructions and elements to be placed outside, thus increasing the exhibition area. During the construction they decided to paint the exterior pipes, cables and wires in different colors: red, yellow, green, blue and white depending on their function. There are 3 architectural styles in the exterior of the complex: brutalism, structural expressionism and postmodernist architecture.
The official opening ceremony was held on January 31, 1977. A bold architectural decision has caused a lot of negative criticism because the building of the Centre Pompidou is very different from the rest of the architecture of the quarter, and its size is just huge for the center of Paris: the length – 166 m, width – 60 m, height – 42 m.
Despite mixed reviews by contemporaries, the Georges Pompidou Center has become one of the trademarks of Paris and is the third most visited attraction in Paris after the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.
What to see at the Centre Pompidou in Paris
The Pompidou National Center for Arts and Culture is popular not only for its exhibitions. There are cinemas, concert venues, a theater, a library, as well as the Museum of Modern Art, the Industrial Design Center and the Institute for Research and Coordination of Acoustics and Music.
The large square in front of the complex is buzzing with life day and night. Street artists, mimes, musicians, artists and passersby gather here to watch an interesting performance. Spectators of this fun are seated right on the pavement.
Museum of Modern Art
The State Museum of Modern Art contains a collection of 60,000 exhibits in painting, design, architecture, photography, installation, video and multimedia. There are permanent and temporary exhibitions.
In addition to contemporaries, the museum contains works by famous twentieth-century painters such as Kandinsky, Modigliani, Matisse and Picasso.
Public Library
The library occupies three floors of the Centre Pompidou and houses a vast collection of fiction, academic and technical literature. In addition to printed material, you can find videos and audio recordings here. Admission to the library is free.
Exhibitions
The view of the Pompidou Center from the outside is in harmony with the installations exhibited inside. In the exhibition halls, you can see compositions made from a variety of materials, from glass and wood to plastic and fabric. Here you can come across scattered clothes or colorful giant posters depicting human organs. Exhibits change frequently and you never know what the museum will surprise you with next.
Stravinsky Fountain
Between the Centre Pompidou and the church of Saint-Merry is the square of Igor Stravinsky. To decorate the square somehow, Swiss architect Jean Tinguely created in 1983 a pool with 16 sculpture-mobiles on its surface. The brightly colored figures move through the water to the best music of Stravinsky, releasing jets of water. This extravagant structure, called the Stravinsky Fountain, so beloved by Parisians and tourists, is already part of the Pompidou Art Center.