Pompidou Centre is forty

The Pompidou Centre's "refinery" look

On a visit to Paris 35 years ago one of the must see sites for us with the Louvre et al was the new and controversial Pompidou Centre. Named after the president who sanctioned it this new multi-discipline arts centre was designed partly by a British architect Richard Rogers and its controversial appearance quickly dubbed it "the gasworks" or "refinery", since much of its workings were visible on the outside.
Built on a huge car park in the Place Beaubourg the initial hostility has mellowed so that now it is as much a landmark as other Paris galleries. Over 300 million visitors have passed through its doors, to see more than 200 exhibitions of art, plus its library, cinemas and restaurants. Beaubourg is a living place, not simply a museum of the past. We remember our visit from all those years ago when it was new and different: today it is almost venerable - and different.
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