It is not just a museum, but an entire center for culture and art. It was opened in 1977 to “explore contemporary art in the form of dance, music and painting,” according to the museum’s website.

In 1969, French President Georges Pompidou, as a great lover of art, decided to create a cultural center on a vacant lot in the Beaubourg district of Paris. Immediately a competition was announced for the best architectural design of the building, which was attended by artists from 50 countries.

In the end a project by three young architects was selected: Renzo Piano, Gianfranco Franchini and Richard Rogers. They proposed to build a glass building in the form of a parallelepiped with escalators, and to take some constructions and elements outside, thus increasing the exhibition area. During the construction the exterior pipes, cables and wires were painted in different colors: red, yellow, green, blue and white. The exterior of the complex has three architectural styles: brutalism, structural expressionism and postmodern architecture.

The bold architectural design has drawn a lot of criticism because the Centre Pompidou building is very different from the rest of the architecture of the neighbourhood. Its dimensions are just enormous for the center of Paris: the length – 166 m, width – 60 m, height – 42 m. Despite the mixed reviews of contemporaries, this structure has become one of the visiting cards of the French capital. Today the Pompidou Center is the third most visited Parisian landmark after the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower.

Also associated with the Pompidou Center is another extravagant work – the Stravinsky fountain, which is located next to the museum. It was created in 1983 by the Swiss architect Jean Tinguely. On its surface are 16 brightly colored sculptures that move in the water to the best music of the composer Igor Stravinsky, releasing jets of spray.

The museum of contemporary art has a collection of 60,000 exhibits in such areas as painting, design, architecture, photography, installation, video and multimedia. There are permanent and temporary exhibitions.

What to see: The Pompidou has a huge collection of works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Gerhard Richter, Henri Matisse, Edvard Munch, Jackson Pollock and other masters. In the exhibition halls you can see installations made from a variety of materials, from glass and wood to plastic and fabric. Here you can come across scattered clothing or colorful giant posters depicting human organs. The exhibits change frequently, and you never know what the museum will surprise you with next.