Forty years after its inauguration (January 31, 1977, the Centre Georges-Pompidou in Paris is undoubtedly a success: a popular success with over 180 million visitors since its opening – be it for the building itself, for its public library, for its museum, its temporary exhibitions, its auditoriums, its restaurant on the roofs of Paris... The Pompidou Centre, or Beaubourg as it’s known locally, is much loved.
Museums from all over the world have followed the example, from the Guggenheim in Bilbao to the Kunsthaus in Graz via the Pompidou Centre in Metz. Museums today are open to the city, to daily life… visitors come for entertainment, for learning, for food or just for a walk ...

Given today’s popular success of the Pompidou Centre, it is difficult to imagine the outcry and vitriolic debates that accompanied its creation. Through delightful archives and meetings with the main protagonists of its extraordinary history, this film traces the human, political, artistic and architectural adventure of a building that has become a pioneer and a model for museums the world over.

AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING: French version only.