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The Pompidou Centre is a Paris landmark, an extraordinary piece of architecture inaugurated in 1977, that is officially - when translated from the French - the Georges Pompidou National Art and Culture Centre. Locals call it "Beaubourg" after the neighbourhood around it in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The building was the vision of the man it's named after, France's leader between 1962 and 1968. President Georges Pompidou had the idea of a space dedicated to the culture of the 20th and 21st centuries, bringing together visual arts, literature, music, cinema and design in one unique multicultural institution. The building has extensive galleries featuring both visiting exhibitions and selections from its permanent collection of modern and contemporary art, one of the most important in the world. With additional exhibition spaces, a cinema, a large public reading library - and eight million visitors each year - the President's idea now seems as if it was a very safe bet. This present day success masks a highly controversial history, however, both of the idea itself and its audacious design.
There were many problems facing President Pompidou's vision of a national multicultural centre. Not least was that by the 1970s, Paris had lost its place as a leader on the contemporary arts scene to New York. To regain the top spot, the French capital needed an original space that would be instantly recognised around the world.
The Centre was built by GTM and completed in 1977. The building cost 993 million French francs. Renovation work conducted from October 1996 to January 2000 was completed on a budget of 576 million francs. The principal engineer was the renowned Peter Rice, responsible for amongst other things the Gerberette. During the renovation, the Centre was closed to the public for 27 months, re-opening on 1 January 2000.
Building specifications
Land area 2 hectares (5 acres)
Floor area 103,305 m2
Superstructure 7 levels
Height 42 m (Rue Beaubourg side), 45.5 m (Piazza side)
Length 166 m
Width 60 m
Infrastructure 3 levels
Dimensions Depth: 18 m; Length: 180 m; Width: 110 m
The Place Georges Pompidou in front of the museum is noted for the presence of street performers, such as mimes and jugglers. In the spring, miniature carnivals are installed temporarily into the place in front with a wide variety of attractions: bands, caricature and sketch artists, tables set up for evening dining, and even skateboarding competitions.
In 2010, the Centre Georges Pompidou opened a regional branch, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, in Metz a city 250 kilometres east of Paris. The new museum is part of an effort to expand the display of contemporary arts beyond Paris's large museums.
As a national museum, the Centre Pompidou is government-owned and subsidised by the Ministry of Culture. Established in 1977 as the institution's US philanthropic arm, the Georges Pompidou Art and Culture Foundation acquires and encourages major gifts of art and design for exhibition at the museum. Since 2006, the non-profit support group has brought in donations of 28 works, collectively valued at more than $14 million, and purchased many others. In 2013, New York-based art collectors Thea Westreich Wagner and Ethan Wagner announced their intention to donate about 300 works by 27 European and international artists to the Centre Pompidou, thereby making one of the largest gifts in the institution's history.
