Centre Georges Pompidou

After working for nearly 3 months on the outskirts of Paris I was feeling stifled by a constant cultural diet of visiting classical buildings and traditional museums such as the Louvre. I mentioned this in passing to a friend I was working with who rolled his eyes and declared that I was clearly in need of a trip to the Centre Pompidou... What is it? The Centre Pompidou is Paris's most famous modern art museum. It was built partly due to the desire of George Pompidou, a politician who was both Prime Minister and later President of France, to modernize Paris. It was originally named Centre Beaubourg (after its location) and became the Centre ...  Read the complete review

The Pompidou Centre stands out like a big wart in the middle of some lovely Parisienne buildings, its inside out design with all the pipes and escalators on the outside and the once bright colours which now are in need of a touch up is in stark cntrast to its surroundings, designed to revitalise that area of Paris known as the Beaubourg quartier it has achieved its objective with lots of nice art shops mixed in with tourist cafes and tacky gift shops. The main reason to go inside though is the Musee National D' Art Moderne which has an excellent selection of modern art works and on that basis the Pompidou Centre is a fitting home and design. Entrance was about ...  Read the complete review

When I fancy a change of scenery in Paris I often find myself gravitating towards the Pompidou Centre as amongst all of those classic old building and great cathedrals the design of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers stands out as something a bit different. With all the pipe work and escalators on the outside of the building the idea was to make the whole gallery as an open inviting building rather than the traditional closed environment of traditional art galleries. It had been almost fifteen years since I last visited the centre and I must admit that it was not quite as spectacular looking as my memories but this may have something to do with the fact that 15 ...  Read the complete review

The Pompidou centre is certainly a very stunning building- it's woth going in if just for the view from the panorama at the top, although you have to pay for that. The building itself is light and airy, and facilities very good indeed. However, unless you're a die hard fan of modern art, give it a miss. There were a few things there that interested me a little, like a giant rhino that looked like it had excaped from legoland, but there are so many better things to do in Paris- the louvre is far more interesting, and better value for money as well. Save your money, come home early, and go to Tate Modern instead. ...  Read the complete review

To really get the best out of this art gallery you either have to be a resident of Paris, or one of those hard-nosed tourists that come back day after day after day until they have seen every last square inch of the place : The Pompidou is immense and working on so many different levels that a simple day out should be a cultural no-no. Most people firstly come to see the building itself - a postmodern glass cage decorated with tubes that are somewhat reminiscent of swimming pool slides - and for the view from the top (which used to be free but is now charged for), over parisian rooftops and far away. There is also a lovely little (I jest) Nicky Saint Phalle ...  Read the complete review