Roavina

Museum · Paris 4e Arrondissement, Paris

Centre Georges Pompidou

Closed today, Saturday. The next opening is not recorded — the planner will not place a stop here on a Saturday.

Plan around it

Reviewed by Elena Voss · Roavina Travel Editor

Photograph

A photograph of Centre Georges Pompidou
Photograph · Zairon · CC BY-SA 4.0
Today
Closed today
Visit duration
2 hours
Accessibility
Step-free
Price
Not recorded
Standing
Must see · Heritage site
Rank
Rank 27 of 7,605
Plan a day around this Map

Place details and sources

This place is a Museum. It opened in 1977. It was built in the high-tech architecture style. It was designed by Renzo Piano. It carries the Remarkable Contemporary Architecture heritage designation. It is run by Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou of le Paris.

Official name
Centre National d'Art et de Culture Georges-Pompidou OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Official website
www.centrepompidou.fr Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Telephone
+33144781233 OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Address
Rue Beaubourg, 19, 75004, Paris OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Wheelchair access
Available OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Short name
Centre Pompidou OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Building
Civic building OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Type of place
Museum OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Established
1977 Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Heritage designation
Remarkable Contemporary Architecture Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Architectural style
high-tech architecture Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Height
42 m Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Opened
1977 Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Architect
Renzo Piano Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Architect
Richard Rogers Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Architect
Renzo Piano;Richard Rogers;Gianfranco Franchini;Vincent Alain OpenStreetMap · Checked 2026-09-09
Operator
Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou of le Paris Wikidata · Checked 2026-09-09
Wikipedia article
Centre Pompidou Wikipedia · Checked 2026-09-09

About Centre Georges Pompidou

The Centre Pompidou is a building turned inside out, and it is closed until 2030.

Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini won the competition in 1971 against 681 entries, and the centre opened on 31 January 1977. Structure, services and circulation are all on the outside, which is what freed the interior into open floors, and the exposed elements were colour-coded: green for plumbing, blue for climate, yellow for electricity, red for safety.

It closed on 2 March 2025 for a renovation running to 2030 — asbestos removal and energy work, under Moreau Kusunoki with Frida Escobedo.

The square outside remains open and the building can still be seen.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

What's inside

Three institutions rather than one museum.

The Musée National d'Art Moderne is the largest modern art museum in Europe. The Bibliothèque publique d'information is a free public library of about 367,000 books. IRCAM is a research institute for music and acoustics, and it is underground beside the building.

The centre was designed for 8,000 visitors a day and took more than 145 million in its first two decades. In 2017 it recorded about 3.37 million museum visitors and 1.37 million library users.

All of it is shut until 2030. Parts of the collection are being shown elsewhere while the building is closed.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

How long to spend

Fifteen minutes, for as long as the closure lasts.

What is left to a visitor is the exterior and the Place Georges-Pompidou that slopes down in front of it, which was designed as public space and still works as one.

When the building reopens in 2030, the modern art collection alone is a three-hour museum and the top-floor view along the escalator tube was one of the better free-standing reasons to go up.

The Stravinsky Fountain on the south side, with its Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely pieces, is two minutes away and is open.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Season and crowds

Any time while it is closed; the exterior does not have opening hours.

Afternoon light hits the west front with the escalator tube on it, which is the face everyone photographs.

The sloping square in front fills with street performers and people sitting on the ground in good weather, which was the architects' intention and is the liveliest thing about the site at the moment.

The renovation runs to 2030, so anyone planning around a reopening should confirm before travelling.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Tickets

Nothing is on sale. The centre is closed to the public until 2030.

Before the closure the museum was ticketed, the library was free and IRCAM was not generally open. Any rates from that period are obsolete and are not reproduced here.

The square, the fountain and the streets around are free and open.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Getting there

The 4th arrondissement, in Beaubourg, between Les Halles and the Marais.

Rambuteau on Métro line 11 is the closest station. Hôtel de Ville on lines 1 and 11 and Châtelet–Les Halles on the RER are both a five-minute walk.

The Métro runs 16 lines across 321 stations, with stations 548 m apart on average — a two-stop journey is usually faster walked.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

What to watch out for

It is closed. The single most important thing about the Centre Pompidou in 2026 is that it shut on 2 March 2025 and does not reopen until 2030, and a great deal of travel writing still describes visiting it.

Construction hoarding surrounds parts of the site and the escalator tube is not accessible.

Parts of the collection are being shown at other venues during the closure, which changes; check before planning a day around a particular work.

The area between here and Les Halles is busy at night and is one of the more persistent pickpocket zones in the centre.

The square in front is open and unrestricted.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Photography

The west front with the escalator tube running diagonally across it is the photograph, taken from the top of the sloping square in the afternoon.

The colour-coding — green plumbing, blue climate, yellow electrical, red safety — is easiest to read on the back and side elevations, on the Rue du Renard, and those faces are almost never photographed.

The Stravinsky Fountain beside the church of Saint-Merri gives colour and movement in a frame the grey building does not.

Construction hoarding is in shot from most angles until 2030.

Checked 2026-08-23 · Source

Common questions

Is the Centre Pompidou open?

No. It closed on 2 March 2025 for a renovation running until 2030, covering asbestos removal and energy work under Moreau Kusunoki with Frida Escobedo.

Who designed it?

Richard Rogers, Renzo Piano and Gianfranco Franchini, whose design won against 681 entries in 1971. It opened on 31 January 1977.

Why are the pipes on the outside?

The structure, services and circulation were deliberately put outside to free the interior into open floors. They were colour-coded: green plumbing, blue climate, yellow electricity, red safety.

What is inside it?

Three institutions: the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Europe's largest modern art museum; the Bibliothèque publique d'information, a free library of about 367,000 books; and IRCAM.

Can I still see anything?

The exterior and the sloping square in front are open, as is the Stravinsky Fountain beside it. Parts of the collection are being shown at other venues during the closure.

How many people used to visit?

It was designed for 8,000 a day and took more than 145 million in its first two decades. In 2017 it recorded 3.37 million museum visitors and 1.37 million library users.

Where it is

Nearby

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In Paris 4e Arrondissement

Same category

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External links

Last updated:

Source: OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata ·