Centre Pompidou Metz
In Metz, eastern France, the first branch of the world-renowned Pompidou Center for Modern Art in Paris will be ceremonially opened on Tuesday. The museum, which vaguely resembles a crumpled bamboo Chinese hat, will open to the public on Wednesday. The Lorraine metropolis hopes that it will provide a similar international fame as the branch of the famous Guggenheim Museum in New York did for the struggling Basque port of Bilbao.
This marks the first decentralization of any of the major French museums. However, in just two years, the first branch of the Louvre in Paris is set to open its doors in Lens in the north of the country.
The idea originated from former French Minister of Culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon. The aim was both to fill certain gaps on the cultural map of France and to make as many of the 60,000 artworks from the Pompidou Center's repositories accessible, of which it can display a maximum of 2,000 at a time.
Three years later, in November 2006, construction began, following the designs of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and Frenchman Jean de Gastines. The building cost over 69 million euros (1.72 billion crowns), most of which was covered by the city and the region.
The new museum provides 5,000 square meters of exhibition space and allows for the display of some very large works that could not be exhibited in Paris. One of them is Picasso's huge curtain for the ballet Parade from 1917, which has reportedly never been exhibited in France since its unveiling at the Théâtre Châtelet in Paris.
The inaugural exhibition is titled "Masterpieces?" and includes nearly 800 artifacts from a number of 20th-century art giants - in addition to Pablo Picasso, there are also Alberto Giacometti, Jackson Pollock, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró.
The first five days will be free of charge for visitors, as will all accompanying events celebrating its opening.
The museum's founders hope it will become a magnet not only for the entire surrounding region of France but also for nearby areas of Germany and Belgium, and for Luxembourg, where around 10 million people live in total. They also count on art-loving Parisians - thanks to the super-express TGV, the journey from Paris to Metz only takes 80 minutes. They anticipate that the museum will attract 200,000 visitors in its first year. (The Pompidou Center in Paris receives six million visitors annually.)
This marks the first decentralization of any of the major French museums. However, in just two years, the first branch of the Louvre in Paris is set to open its doors in Lens in the north of the country.
The idea originated from former French Minister of Culture Jean-Jacques Aillagon. The aim was both to fill certain gaps on the cultural map of France and to make as many of the 60,000 artworks from the Pompidou Center's repositories accessible, of which it can display a maximum of 2,000 at a time.
Three years later, in November 2006, construction began, following the designs of Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and Frenchman Jean de Gastines. The building cost over 69 million euros (1.72 billion crowns), most of which was covered by the city and the region.
The new museum provides 5,000 square meters of exhibition space and allows for the display of some very large works that could not be exhibited in Paris. One of them is Picasso's huge curtain for the ballet Parade from 1917, which has reportedly never been exhibited in France since its unveiling at the Théâtre Châtelet in Paris.
The inaugural exhibition is titled "Masterpieces?" and includes nearly 800 artifacts from a number of 20th-century art giants - in addition to Pablo Picasso, there are also Alberto Giacometti, Jackson Pollock, Max Ernst, and Joan Miró.
The first five days will be free of charge for visitors, as will all accompanying events celebrating its opening.
The museum's founders hope it will become a magnet not only for the entire surrounding region of France but also for nearby areas of Germany and Belgium, and for Luxembourg, where around 10 million people live in total. They also count on art-loving Parisians - thanks to the super-express TGV, the journey from Paris to Metz only takes 80 minutes. They anticipate that the museum will attract 200,000 visitors in its first year. (The Pompidou Center in Paris receives six million visitors annually.)
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