Centre Pompidou

Commissioned by President Georges Pompidou to create a radically new type of cultural institution combining a museum, public library, and centres for design and music, the Centre Pompidou was designed by young architects Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers, and Gianfranco Franchini, who won an international competition in 1971 with a daring 'inside-out' scheme that placed the building's structure, escalators, and mechanical services — color-coded by function — on its exterior. It opened on 31 January 1977 in the Beaubourg area of Paris's 4th arrondissement and was initially derided by critics as a scandalous 'oil refinery' before becoming one of the most influential buildings of the 20th century and winning its architects the Pritzker Prize. The complex houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne — the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe — alongside the Bibliothèque publique d'information (BPI) and the IRCAM music research institute. The museum's own collection traces to 1937 and formally opened at the Palais de Tokyo in 1947 before relocating into the Pompidou building in 1977. Since opening, the centre has drawn well over 150 million visitors and become a defining symbol of the modern Right Bank; it closed in 2025 for a top-to-bottom renovation scheduled to run through 2030.