Centre Pompidou
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Centre Pompidou tickets and tours

The project of the Centre Pompidou was initially conceptualized to be a large, free and general use public library that until the mid 20th century was...

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Guided Tour
Private tour
Museums
(11)

Private tour of the exterior and permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou

Get the most of contemporary and modern art with this 2-hour private tour of the Centre Pompidou. The tour includes visiting the permanent c...

Duration
2 hours
Available in: English
Guided Tour
$ 70
Museums
(6)

Guided tour of the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou

Visit the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou with an expert guide.The Centre Pompidou now contains Europe's leading collection of ...

Duration
2 hours
Available in: English
Guided Tour
$ 78
Museums

Skip-the-line guided tour of the Centre Pompidou in small group

The Pompidou Center houses some of the world’s most exciting modern and contemporary art, and on this 2-2.5 hour guided tour, you will learn...

Duration
2 hours
Available in: English
Guided Tour
$ 99
Bike Tours

Bike tour from Pompidou Center to Champs Elysées

Ride the streets of Paris and pass through the most iconic spots of the city. In three hours, you'll roll from the Center Pompidou to the Ei...

Duration
3 hours
Available in: English
Guided Tour
$ 73
Bike Tours

Guided bike tour along the Seine

Choose a unique guided visit to discover the most emblematic places of the French capital, biking along the Seine River banks. The show begi...

Duration
3 hours
Available in: English
Guided Tour
$ 40
Museums

Guided tour of the must-sees of Modern Art at Centre Pompidou

Experience art in a different way at the Pompidou Center, with its stunning collection of modern and contemporary art. Daring architecture, ...

Duration
2 hours, 15 minutes
Available in: English
Guided Tour
$ 67
Shopping Tours

Shopping experience with discount, gift and French pastry at LE BHV MARAIS

Discover the Parisians' favorite store, open 7 days a week!Enjoy BHV six floors shop, 2000 brands for fashion, DIT, beauty, deli, and home d...

Validity
Flexible
Available in: English
$ 17
Bike Tours

Historic and contemporary Paris bike tour

The goal of this visit is to be charmed. And you will be when you discover historic and contemporary Paris by bicycle with your professional...

Duration
3 hours
Available in: English
Guided Tour
$ 40
Attraction passes

Paris unlimited self-guided tours

Learn more about Paris' history and French culture while walking past the Seine and along the Champs Elysees, discovering facts and anecdote...

Validity
Flexible
Available in: English
$ 5

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Good to know

Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, it's considered a high-tech architectural wonder. All the infrastructure of the building is (radically) exposed, freeing up space in the interior.
Even in the off-season it's busy so it pays to book your tickets in advance. You'll still have to queue but at least it'll be shorter.
It was championed by former president Georges Pompidou (hence the name), who wanted to create a cultural center that would draw visitors to the city.
Don't make the mistake of waiting in the enormous queue for the public library (on the side of the building). Enter from the main entrance.
The pipes, ducts and other exterior elements are color coded according to their function, with blue for air, green for water, yellow for electricity, and red for elevators and lifts.
It's more popular than anyone thought it would be and receives around 25,000 visitors a day, five times more than originally planned for.
The 6th floor has a spectacular panoramic view. Access is included in your entrance ticket, otherwise you can get in by dining at Georges or buying a 5 euro view-only ticket.
Thursdays the center is open until 11pm. It's less crowded, but only the 6th floor exhibition is open til late.
Georges is the fancy French fusion restaurant with the spectacular view. It's where you'll find posh locals and tourists looking to splurge.
Not all the art is inside. The nearby Stravinsky fountain was created in 1983 by artists Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint Phalle. Its 16 modern sculptures are inspired by Igor Stravinsky's ‘The Rite of Spring', and his other major works.
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The inside story

The project of the Centre Pompidou was initially conceptualized to be a large, free and general use public library that until the mid 20th century was greatly lacking in the city of Paris. At the same time the city’s Museum of Modern Arts, or Musée National d’Art Moderne was in great need of a new home.

Commissioned by the then President of France Georges Pompidou (whose name was eventually given to this cultural center) an architectural competition began to win the right to plan and build the new structure.

A team of two Italian and one British architects won and gave life to what is today considered a highly avant-garde building that embraces the future. It was not initially received well by the public and critics because thought to create a strong esthetic clash with the surrounding area. One could say that the outer ‘walls’ are missing, leaving exposed the skeleton of the building, with brightly colored tubes of the mechanical systems visible to anyone. More recently it is a structure that has been praised as a great innovation architectural thought on a whole.

At the time of construction IRCAM, a center for music and acoustic research, was already on location and is today also an integral part of the Centre Georges Pompidou.

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How to get there

Centre Pompidou 19 Rue Beaubourg Paris
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