Centre Pompidou

Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers designed Centre Pompidou with much of its structure and services exposed, which is why ducts, pipes, and escalators are visible on the exterior. The Paris building opened in 1977 and became famous for this inside-out design.

Centre Pompidou houses the Musée National d'Art Moderne, one of Europe's major modern and contemporary art collections. Visitors commonly go for 20th and 21st century works rather than classical painting like they would at the Louvre.

They are in the same cultural complex in Paris, but the museum and the public library are different parts of the building. Centre Pompidou opened in 1977 as a combined cultural center, not just as an art museum.

The exterior escalator route gives visitors elevated views across central Paris. People often use the building as a viewpoint as well as a museum because it sits near the Marais and Les Halles.