Cultural Center Georges Pompidou – Beaubourg

The main modern art collection in Paris is to be seen in the Center Georges Pompidou – Beaubourg: it’s the second most important collection of the world after the famous MOMA in New York. But “Beaubourg” as the Parisians like to call it is also an important cultural center with a huge library, many cultural events (concerts, thematic movie retrospectives and other cultural representations) and is also a fascinating building of a very “futuristic style” of the 70’s.

The main modern art collection in Paris is to be seen in the Center Georges Pompidou – Beaubourg: it’s the second most important collection of the world after the famous MOMA in New York. But “Beaubourg” as the Parisians like to call it is also an important cultural center with a huge library, many cultural events (concerts, thematic movie retrospectives and other cultural representations) and is also a fascinating building of a very “futuristic style” of the 70’s.

The former French president Georges Pompidou decided 1969 to launch a project of a modern art museum and even though he died in 1974, the project was on its way and was opened to the public in 1977. It was the work of the 2 architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers. They wanted to build a museum of modernity in the middle of the Parisian urban space and they chose deliberately to be very futuristic: a lot of tubes and stairs and metallic structures with many different colors are the main characteristics of this futuristic building. The reaction of the public was a one of surprise with very strong reactions: some loved this unexpected construction and others hated this “ugly” thing in the center of Paris. Nowadays, the people still don’t agree about this masterpiece of architecture…

The interesting thing about the place is that the architects wanted that not only the museum, but the space around must be a “cultural” space for the people. Therefore, in front of the building is a big place where many people are sitting, walking, waiting for someone or making queue to visit an exhibition. And there is always something going on with street clowns, street theater, and many other things. There is always something to look at and that’s why it’s so interesting to be there with a camera and take pictures. That was what I did last time I went to Paris.

http://www.centrepompidou.fr/
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_Georges-Pompidou

written by vicuna on 2008-05-09 #places #art #culture #shop #location