Centre Pompidou
A building turned inside-out, its guts of colored pipes and escalators bolted to the outside.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Paris offline.
Rogers and Piano pushed the structure and machinery onto the facade, the design intent being open, uninterrupted floors inside. The escalators climb the exterior for a rising view over Paris, and inside sits the largest museum of modern and contemporary art in Europe.
What to look for
- The exterior color code on the tubes: green = plumbing, blue = climate control, yellow = electrical, red = circulation and safety.
- The escalators running up the outside of the building; ride them for the climbing view over Paris rooftops.
- On the adjacent Place Stravinsky, the Stravinsky Fountain: 16 moving, water-spraying sculptures by Jean Tinguely and Niki de Saint-Phalle.
Closed 2 March 2025 through 2030 for a full renovation (asbestos removal, energy upgrades); confirm reopening before you plan a visit.
Centre Pompidou is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Paris, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Paris pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Paris
- Eiffel TowerThe 300-metre iron tower Parisian artists petitioned against before it was even finished.
- Louvre MuseumThe world's most-visited museum lives inside a 12th-century fortress that became a royal palace.
- Notre-Dame de ParisThe spire fell on live TV in April 2019; since December 2024 you can walk back inside.
- Musée d'OrsayVan Gogh and Monet hung inside a Beaux-Arts station built for the Paris–Orléans railway.
- Champs-ÉlyséesA single 1.9-km straight line runs from the Concorde obelisk to the Arc de Triomphe — Paris's ceremonial spine on the Axe historique.
- Place de la BastilleThe prison that lit a revolution is gone — and the mob that stormed it on 14 July 1789 came for gunpowder, not the seven forgotten men inside.