by Richard Smith

Created on: July 16, 2008   Last Updated: November 25, 2008

When I fancy a change of scenery in Paris I often find myself gravitating towards the Pompidou Centre as amongst all of those classic old building and great cathedrals the design of Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers stands out as something a bit different. With all the pipe work and escalators on the outside of the building the idea was to make the whole gallery as an open inviting building rather than the traditional closed environment of traditional art galleries.

It had been almost fifteen years since I last visited the centre and I must admit that it was not quite as spectacular looking as my memories but this may have something to do with the fact that 15 years ago this design was quite innovative whereas now it has been copied numerous times and also modern architecture has moved on with even more creative and innovative designs.

Located in the Beaubourg area of Paris the centre in conveniently located a mere five minutes walk from Notre Dame on the right bank. The nearest metro station is Rambuteau which is on the number 11 line with the nearest RER station at Chatelet Les Halles however this is a meeting point for a number of lines and one of the most confusing stations on the whole otherwise brilliant Parisian train system.

The main reason for visiting the gallery it to see its fantastic display of modern art housed in the top three floors in the Musee National d' Art Moderne however if this does not flick your switch then the building is still worth visiting just to appreciate the architecture with all of the pipes colour coded to denote their function and inside the main entrance there are some free exhibits to look at and there is also a cinema, shops and a huge library which is often full of students using it as a resource facility.

Entry to the centre is from the right facing side of the building and is a wide sloped area which is often full of people sitting in groups watching the performance artists or posing to have their portraits done by anyone of the numerous artists who ply their trade in the vicinity. The entrance hall itself is very bright, to your right is the main gift shop which sells mostly books and paintings whilst straight ahead is the ticket office. When I visited it cost 10 euro to visit all of the galleries for over 18, accompanied children get in for free. Couple of things to be aware of, entry is free the first Sunday of the month and also that your ticket allows you one entry, it is not possible once you have entered a gallery to

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