One of the most controversial buildings in Paris (after the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre glass pyramid, and the Opera Bastille) the Centre Georges Pompidou has one of Paris's finest views as well as one of the world's finest collections of modern art.

Commissioned by President Georges Pompidou in 1970, the building was subject to an international architecture competition. The building was designed to maximise on functional mobility, leaving the exhibition space as clear as possible. This means all utility shafts are on the outside of the building; air conditioning in blue, water pipes in green, electricity in yellow and transport, such as escalators, in red. In addition to its permanent collections by artists such as Kandinsky, Dali and Picasso, it has some of the city's most interesting temporary exhibitions.

The centre also contains a public reference library, a cinema, performance and conference halls, a music research institute, activity areas, bookshops and a café.

Address

Subway: Châtelet (lines 1, 4, 7, 11, 14);  Les Halles (line 4); Rambuteau (line 11).

RER: Châtelet-Les Halles (lines A, B, D).  

Places to Stay:

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