27 August 2013

Paris in July: a café a day (6)

The Centre Pompidou has been one of the two or three most controversial buildings in Paris since in it was built in the mid-1970s. (The other two I have in mind are the Tour Montparnasse and the Pyramide du Louvre.) It's the famous building with all its structural and functional elements visible from the outside, painted in bright colors.


It's squarely in the middle of the city, not far north of Notre-Dame and the Tour Saint-Jacques. The neighborhood is called Beaubourg — "beautiful town" — and was a village outside of Paris until the 12th century, when it was annexed.


The building was conceived of by French President Georges Pompidou in the late 1960s. He wanted to build what an old Michelin Guide that I have describes as "a living center of contemporary art where the public could participate." It's one of the most important modern art museums in the world, and the plaza and cafés around it are usually full of people.

 The Centre Pompidou seen from the top of the nearby Tour Saint-Jacques

11 comments:

  1. Early on, the Centre Pompidou has been called The Refinery, for obvious reasons. Don't start me on this subject! LOL

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  2. View from the Tour Saint-Jacques, it really seems out of place. Not my favorite building for this particular place.

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  3. The Pompidou Center has also been called 'l'usine à gaz' and, my favorite, 'Notre-Dame de la Tuyauterie'.

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  4. and.... MORE photos to show my students!

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  5. Personal preference, I know, but it took me about 20 years to actually enjoy seeing the Pyramide in front of the Louvre. I'm still working on liking the Centre Pompidou.

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  6. Well, I will confess that I have a hard time liking Notre Dame de Paris. When that cathedral was built, there was nothing like it in the city. It was way out of scale with everything else in the neighborhood, and the architecture was too contemporary, gaudy, and ignored the urban context surrounding it. That damned thing should never have been built.

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  7. And don't get me started on all that "external structure" stuff. Columns! Pilasters! Flying buttresses! Too much modernity for me.

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  8. Probably the MOST controversial was le Tour Eiffel!

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  9. Starman, I'm sure you are right.

    Dean, the pyramid is a lot better than the parking lot that was there in the '70s.

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  10. This is certainly a controversial building , more so than the Pyramide in front of the Louvre. As for the Tour Montparnasse , I actually like it , might be the only one but hey we are all different. I can understand as it is so high , but the views are amazing. I have just seen WC's comment , now that is a first!!

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What's on your mind? Qu'avez-vous à me dire ?