The Centre Pompidou in Paris, one of the most important museums of modern and contemporary art in the world, will close completely for work at the end of 2025 and reopen in 2030, announced Wednesday 10 May the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak. Announced in 2021 by the then Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, these modernization and asbestos removal works, which will cost 262 million euros, were initially to extend from 2023 to 2027, the year of the establishment's 50th anniversary.
The move and phased closure will begin in the fall of 2024. The renovation and asbestos removal of all the facades, the fire safety, the energy optimization of the building, as well as the necessary facilities for better accessibility for people with reduced mobility, should begin in early 2026.
300 million visitors since 1977
The National Museum of Modern Art, inaugurated in 1977 in the heart of the capital, has never been renovated. Since its opening, it has welcomed some 300 million visitors, Abdul Malak told a news conference. This work had become essential because of corrosion and wear affecting the huge building, which houses very important collections of modern and contemporary art, large exhibition spaces and a very large library. They will make it possible to "perpetuate its survival", insisted the minister.
See alsoThe Jean Chatelus collection enters the Centre Pompidou
When the museum reopens, the museum's spaces will keep the same positioning, but the hanging will be rethought from a "multidisciplinary perspective". New spaces for young people are planned, as well as the expansion of its library. The renovated version of the museum wants to be able to stand up to the Bourse du Commerce and its brand new building or the Louis Vuitton Foundation and its impressive modern setting.
Still, the total closure comes in full resumption of attendance, after several years of health crisis related to Covid-19. In this context, support for the Centre Pompidou-Metz will be strengthened and the Ile-de-France conservation and creation centre in Massy is due to open in 2026.
