modern art

Centre Georges Pompidou
A modern museum in paris. pg 77

Image by Paolo Margari via Flickr

It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information, a vast public library, the Musée National d'Art Moderne which is the largest museum for modern art in Europe, and IRCAM, a centre for music and acoustic research. Because of its location, the Centre is known locally as Beaubourg. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who decided its creation, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by then-French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The Centre Pompidou has had over 150 million visitors since 1977.