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Visitors stroll through the Centre national d’art et de culture Georges-Pompidou (Centre Pompidou) in Paris on March 8, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Tourists and French visitors alike filled Paris’s landmark Pompidou museum on the weekend to catch a last glimpse of its prestigious art collection ahead of a five-year closure for a major renovation.
“Five years — it’s long!” exclaimed one guide, Elisa Hervelin, as people around her took photos of many of the museum’s permanent works.
The 2,000-piece collection, on display on the fourth and fifth floors on the 48-year-old multicultural centre, are to start being taken away from Monday.
The artworks are to be given temporary homes in museums across France and in other countries while the lengthy overhaul of the building — famously designed with its pipes and ventilation shafts colourfully adorning its facade — is carried out.
The full closure of the Pompidou Centre will occur on September 22 this year. The €262-million renovations include removing asbestos from the structure.
With free entrance for its last weekend, visitors made the most of a last swing through the galleries, taking in the art as well as workshops, performances and DJ sets put on for the occasion.
Some were regulars to the museum, while others were seeing its collection in person for the first time.
With 3.2 million visitors last year, the Pompidou Centre is one of the most popular museums in Paris, ranking behind the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay in terms of attendance.
Published – March 10, 2025 10:06 am IST
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Ahead of closure, art lovers mob Paris Pompidou Centre
