Pompidou is coming to Belgium
On Thursday 29 September 2016, an agreement protocol was officially signed between the Brussels Region and the Pompidou Centre with the view of a cultural collaboration on a new exhibition centre, which will be housed in the old Citroën garage on the Place de l'Yser (Brussels) and which will open to the public in 2020 at the latest. As specified by president Serge Lasvignes, "The Pompidou Centre will contribute to the cultural programme and bring expertise and cultural engineering. It will also act as an advisory body and offer strategy guidance for the acquisition of permanent collections and the future development of the museum."
The Art Nouveau building, constructed in 1933-1934, will in fact host two distinct themes: first of all, 15,000 square metres will be dedicated to "a modern and contemporary Art Museum" covering the period 1920-2020 and the 9,000 square metres next to it will be dedicated to an "Architecture Museum" housing the CIVA (International Centre for Town, Architecture and Landscape) and all its collections which will be moved there.
The old garage will include a permanent exhibition area (the museum hopes to attract gifts and loans from collectors) and lots of temporary exhibitions. The future Franco-Belgian cultural institution located in the heart of the old worker's quarter hopes to attract a million visitors per year.