Not far from Les Halles, the Centre Beaubourg or better known as the Pompidou Center,created alot of mixed feelings with its radical architectural design. Built in the 1970's, President Pompidou was the originator of this museum. He wanted to make accessible the contemporary art (modern art, film, music, books, and pedagogy), to the widest possible public.

The architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers had chosen to construct a building with visible, external Organs, free from traditional esthetic constraints, in order to leave all of the interior space available.

History
Officially inaugurated in the beginning of 1977, the Art Center is unique in Europe and rivals the best-adapted centers in the United States. It is devoted to every form of contemporary art.

The Pompidou Center is divided into five floors :
Temporary exhibitions in the Grande Galerie on the fifth floor; Museum of Modern Art from 1905 to present time on third and fourth floors The huge public library covers three floors with books, video-discs, microfilms, videos..
A movie-theater celebrating the 7th art with festivals according to special themes on 1st floor

Don't leave before taking a ride on the escalators. As you go up, you will discover Paris skyline : the Sacré-CÏur, St-Eustache, the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame, the Panthéon, the Tour St-Jacques, and La Défense. From the platform at the top you can look down on the château-style chimneys of the HôTel de Ville, with their flowerpot offspring sprouting over the lower rooftops.

Designed for 6000 visitors a day, it has had more like 25,000 - proof of its outstanding success as an enduringly popular building. But the overload of visitors and corrosion in the exterior steel has taken its toll and the Center is now under repair to re open at the turn of the millenium.

Surroundings
In front of the center, there are always the street performers, jugglers, musicians, fire-eaters and the like, capturing the attention of the crowds milling along the pavement. There is also a colourful sculptures and fountains by Tinguely and Nicky de St-Phalle in the pool in front of Église St-Merri. This waterwork pays homage to Stravinsky and shows scant respect for passers-by; it is the ceiling for IRCAM, the centre for contemporary music founded and directed by the composer and conductor Pierre Boulez.
A new, overground extension to IRCAM has appeared, squeezed beside the old public baths on rue St-Merri..

How to get there
Metro line 1 or 11 : Rambuteau, hotel de Ville, ChaTelet
RER A, B or D : ChaTelet-les Halles
Bus : 38, 47, 72, 76, 85

Opening times
Monday, Wednesday to Friday : 12 am to 10 pm
Saturday, Sunday and Holidays : 10 am to 10 pm
Closed Tuesday

Links
http://www.cnac-gp.fr/