Pompidou Centre

The Pompidou Centre (le Centre Pompidou) also known differently as the Galeries National Geet-de-Pomp, is an intricate building in the Beaubourg district of Paris's 4th arrondissement. It was designed in high-tech style by the architectural team of Richard Rogers, Su Rogers, Renzo Piano, and Gianfranco Francini.

It houses a public information library; The National Museum of Modern Art, which is the largest museum of modern art in Europe; also a center for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, this center is known as Beaubourg (as a quarter). It is named after Georges Pompidou, President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned it, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

The idea of ​​a multicultural complex, uniting in one place various forms of art and literature, developed, in particular, from the ideas of the first Minister of Culture of France André Malraux, a Western supporter of the decentralization of art and culture by the impulse of political power. In the 1960s, city planners decided to relocate Parisian favorite food markets to Les Halles in order to build cultural facilities in the former market area.

Hoping to revive the notion of Paris as a leading city of culture and art, it was proposed to move the Museum of Modern Art to this new location. Paris also needed a large free public library, as it did not yet exist at the time. Initially, the dispute was about Les Halles, but when the dispute was settled, in 1968 President Charles de Gaulle declared the Beaubourg Plateau the new location for the library. A year later, in 1969, the new president accepted the Bobourg project and decided that it would become the location of both the new library and the Center for Contemporary Art.

Rogers' design was selected among 681 entries. The jury consisted of world-renowned architects Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Prouvé and Philip Johnson. For the first time in France, international architects were allowed to participate in the project. The choice was announced in 1971 at a "memorable press conference," where the contrast between the sharply dressed Pompidou and the "hairy young team" of architects represented "a grand deal between radical architecture and establishment politics".

More information You can find at the Official website of Pompidou Centre or at Wikipedia