Paris/IBNS: A major tourist attraction of Paris, Centre Pompidou, will be shutting its doors to the public for five years, media reports said.
The decision was taken as the structure will undergo renovations.
The structure has mesmerized tourists for the past 50 years.
The center, which contains galleries, a library and a restaurant within its groundbreaking exterior of pipes and conduits, will be shuttered from 2025 to 2030 to undergo repairs and construction work that officials say are needed to ensure the unusual building’s future, reports CNN.
France’s minister of culture, Rima Abdul Malak, announced the work earlier this month saying that the modernization and asbestos removal project, estimated to cost 260 million euros ($282 million), will ‘perpetuate its survival’, the American news channel reported.
The move was initially planned for 2023.
However, the plan to renovate the building was changed by keeping in mind the Paris 2024 Olympics.
The refurbishment aims to reinvent the “original utopia” of the Centre Pompidou while responding to the cultural, societal and environmental challenges of the coming years, Laurent Le Bon, the landmark’s president, told CNN.
“We are probably one of the most energy-consuming buildings in France so this is rather good news,” Le Bon said.
