Centre Pompidou

What makes it special

The Centre Pompidou wears its services on the outside. Green pipes carry the plumbing, blue ducts the air and yellow casing the electrics, while red marks the escalators, lifts and safety gear. Moving all of it outside freed the floors within for galleries.

Before the works, escalators zig-zagged up the outside of the building, so the city opened out as you climbed. The sixth level at the top held the temporary exhibitions and a wide view over Paris.

Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers designed it to hold the Musée National d'Art Moderne, the largest modern art museum in Europe, and a large public library. The design drew dismay when the centre opened in 1977, as the Eiffel Tower had in its day, and it now ranks as an artwork in its own right.

Beside it, the Stravinsky Fountain has 16 moving, water-spraying sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle.

Visiting

Several Paris venues show the Pompidou's collection while its building is shut, so a visit now starts at one of them: the Grand Palais, the Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, the Panthéon or Maison Pompidou. The centre's website lists the exhibition at each, so pick the show first and the venue follows.

The centre's public library is open too. The Bibliothèque publique d'information has moved to the Lumière building in the 12th arrondissement for the works, with the same hours and access conditions as before.

Tips

If you are travelling on to the east of France, Centre Pompidou-Metz also shows work from the national collection. Closer to Paris, a new hub for conservation, exhibition and creation opens in Massy, in the Essonne, in spring 2027, a short trip south of the city.