Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou
Place Georges Pompidou (Rue Rambuteau/Rue St-Martin), 4th
M° Rambuteau or Hôtel-de-Ville
Tel 01 44 78 12 33
This modern center for the arts with the controversial “inside-out” architecture is made up of the National Museum of Modern Art, a public library, the Atelier Brancusi sculpture studios, an art house cinema, concert halls, and the trendy Georges restaurant on the top floor.
Opening Hours: Daily except Tuesday from 11am-10pm (until 11pm on Thursdays for certain exhibitions). The Museum is open 11am-9pm (last admission 8pm), and the Atelier Brancusi is open 2pm-6pm. Closed for the May 1 holiday.
Tickets: Entry to the Centre Pompidou lobby is free (including access to gift shop, book store, café and restaurant). Entry for the Museum and Exhibitions is €14, reduced rate of €11 for visitors 18-25. Museum Passes accepted. Prices vary for music, dance and theatre concerts, cinema screenings, and concerts. Tickets can be prepurchased and printed out online. If you just want to go up to the top to see the view, the price is €5 for a Panorama ticket.
Free Entrance: Kids under 18 (pick up your free pass at the ticket window). Journalists with ID and disabled visitors with one accompanying person can enter directly without a ticket. The permanent collection is open to everyone the first Sunday of the month for free.
Warning: the automated ticket machines only work with Visa/Mastercards that have embedded microchips (American cards don’t have them).
Entrances: The long lines at the main entrance (for security check) can be discouraging, especially if it’s cold or raining outside. Try and visit after 5pm, or use one of the sneakier entrances. The red elevator (just to the left of the main entrance) is reserved for those going to the Georges Restaurant (you should reserve a table). with amazing panoramic views. In the the main lobby of the Pompidou Centre is a café, bookshop, and gift shop. The public library (Bibliothèque Publique d’Information, aka BPI) has its own entrance on the Rue de Renard, with an exit leading directly into the main lobby (sometimes the lines here are longer than the ones at the main entrance). Just try not to make it too obvious that you’re just there for the shortcut!
Info and Services: The lobby (also called the Forum) is where visitors will find the ticket machines and windows, information desk, free cloakroom, post office, restrooms, bookstore and entrances leading to the Museum, cinema and concert auditoriums. Overlooking all this action is the Mezzanine café and Printemps design boutique.
The Atelier Brancusi: Located in a building just outside the Centre Pompidou, this is the studio of the revolutionary sculptor Constantine Brancusi, carefully rebuilt from the original contents he left to the State when he died in 1957.
