Paris:- Friday, 31. January 1997:- I must be sleeping on the job. Tuesday's Le Parisien had a feature about the 20th anniversary of Beaubourg, the 'Centre Cultural Georges Pompidou,' and today's edition of Libération has devoted three up-front pages to it.

The most immediate part of this news - the essential part I missed - is Beaubourg's three day 'Open Doors' program to celebrate the event - and the opening of the new Brancusi Atelier, plus a special showing from the permanent collection of industrial creation, entitled 'Made in France: 1947 - 1997.' The 'Open Doors' - were - for three days only: from today and until Sunday.

Also for these three days, the Ircam had its doors open. I have always had trouble with this 'Ircam' because its name means nothing to me. Last week at the new Musée de la Musique I learned that the division is supposed to be: instruments and music at the Musée and Cité de la Musique, and acoustical - the sound systems stuff - at the Icram at Beaubourg. But by looking at the program for the Icram's 'Open Doors,' I think it involves either avant-garde or digital music, or both, at the Icram, because there was an electric bassoon performance today at 15:00.

From the 44 Page Press Release

On page 35 I discover what appears to be a more or less complete program; not on page one - and Le Parisien's Tuesday feature concerned the museum's history more than its birthday program.

Since I have thoroughly mixed the up - there's more than 44 pages! - I find the 'contents' page to be un-numbered, and the introduction by Jean-Jacques Aillagon, president of the centre, on page three.

This press release is like a metaphor for the museum itself. The museum is a department store of culture; only it is slightly less- well-organized. In French, it is called a 'Machine à Gaz,' which is applied to anything that has too many features - but which I always translate as 'The Bubble Machine.' Beaubourg's building does look like a Gas Works though, but everybody has always known this.

'Made in France: 1947 - 1997' continues beyond this weekend. An 'interactive' history of the museum will run until Monday, 24. March; as will 'Livres des Artistes.' Expositions of architecture and of design will continue until 2. June.

Since it is a birthday party, there is dancing too. 'Dance contemporaine: 20 rendez-vous chorégraphiques pour les 20 ans du Centre,' which is has been running since last Sunday and continues until Sunday, 23. February (which is also Metropole Paris' first birthday. See coming issue 2.08)

Sometime during the week, TV-news showed Beaubourg at night, which is the best time of day to see its new illumination - it then looks like a oil refinery - and I believe this illumination is part of the general trend to turn all of Paris' monuments into neon signs.

Within the framework of 'Made in France,' there is a 'parade de l'Atelier des enfants,' a projection of photos on the outside wall of the building, the issuing of a commemorative stamp, a series of special-edition books and, according to page 43, the publication of two new CD-ROMs - expected to be available in the second half of this year.

Metropole's Exclusive Eyewitness Report from Beaubourg

I approach my target for today via the rue Simon le Franc, from the fourth arrondissement, perpendicular to the rue Beaubourg. I have a 1930 photo of this 145-metre long street which indicates that the end I enter has not changed much since then. This street had this name in 1237; it was named after Simon Franque, who lived here and who died before 1211.

From the busy traffic in the clogged rue du Temple, looking down the 13th century, 4.5-metre wide rue Simon le Franc, I see a small vertical slice of the 'tubes' of the 'Centre Cultural Georges Pompidou;' known locally as Beaubourg.

(I have seen Beaubourg called a 'plateau' and someday I'll get out my books and look up its history, which I suspect is long - but I don't want to get it confused with the 'press release' today.)

At the rue Beaubourg, the dim skylight reveals the exterior of the 'bubble machine' and it looks like some of the traffic grime has been lifted off it. Don't the snorkels look somehow cleaner? All the scaffolding that has been around its base - for years? - is gone and there is a concrete barrier in the street to keep the tour buses at bay.

The north side is without its construction-site atmosphere, and at the north-west corner, I find the entrance to the new Brancusi Atelier. Twenty pages of the 'press release' are devoted to this, but I am going to read it later and visit the atelier itself, also later. Today, entry requires seeking a ticket inside the main Beaubourg building.

But just so you will know that this is yet another new and major attraction, this brief note: Brancusi left his atelier to the city or the state, and what is here is supposed to be sort of a reproduction of it, that you can see from all sides, and it is full, repeat, full of his sculptures, drawings and photos.

I have a photo of a poster for a Brancusi exposition, taken in a métro tunnel at Concorde. Actually the photo was of a saxophone player there, and I included the big poster as background - but I remember the piece used as an illustration well. If the 'Atelier' is full of this sort of stuff, it is worth a visit. Entry fee is 27 francs, reduced is 20 francs, and entry is free for under 16 and the unemployed.

The place in front of Beaubourg, the 'piazza' as the museum likes to call it, is cold but it is not empty, and it is not 'under construction' like it was last summer.

I find a four-page extract from Le Monde about the birthday party in a wire bin and I take one before joining the line that is snaking through a maze of barriers in front of the doors. I haven't seen these here before - I imagine somebody has been in an American bank recently; but the line is moving and more people are constantly trickling down from the Forum direction.

As I suspected, it is the 'Vigipirate'-security action at the doors which require everybody with a bag to open it on entry. Once inside, the visitors scatter in all directions. I ask the security guys where to find the 'service de presse' and as usual, they know nothing.

In the big entry hall, the mechanical and operating 'sculptures' by Jean Tinguely are whirling, turning, beeping honking; pulleys pull, wheels turn, hammers fall, and behind somewhere there are projectors, that project a dim but ever-moving shadow of it all on a huge screen. You can go down the half-floor and stroll around all this.

Since it is 'Open Doors' today there are no lines to the ticket windows, unless it is for the entry to the Brancusi Atelier. The hall therefore is not as full as normal.

I see a sign for a café called 'Cyberia' up by the post office - get a commemorative stamp - and I wander into the narrow café. The café offers, besides drinks and sandwiches, an e-mail address for 60.30 francs a month, which includes 10 minutes of Internet access per day. If you are staying in Paris more than a few days, especially to visit Beaubourg, this café offers a convenient mailbox. For info, write to: 'cyberia@easynet.fr' (Their Web URL is below.)

A Museum Worn Out by Success

In an early November issue of Metropole I mentioned that Beaubourg would be closing for renovations. More precisely, most of it will be closed - the fifth floor will remain open after the last two expositions close sometime after reconstruction of the interior starts on 29. September of this year.

During the renovations, the collections will be shown in other Parisian locations, such as the modern Art Museum, at the Jeu de Paume, and at other museums outside Paris. The library will be temporarily lodged in the Quartier de l'Horloge.

The reason for the work is to expand the space available and the intention is to add 1,000 square metres to the fifth floor, 4,000 to floors three and four, and expand the library so that it takes up all of the first floor and two-thirds on the second as well as all of the south mezzanine.

What has become painfully clear, is that a museum originally designed to receive no more than 5,000 visitors a day, has in fact had more like 25,000 a day trooping through it. Local residents use it as a recreation centre and a high-class one at that.

The idea, from the beginning, of having a library of 600,000 titles with free access, has been a stunning success in itself.

Since its opening in 1977, Beaubourg has counted 146 million visitors, with 80 million visiting the library alone. Almost 37 percent of the visitors are Parisians - many of whom had never visited a museum before Beaubourg opened - and of the 5,886,139 visitors in 1996, 28.5 percent of them came from outside France. How Beaubourg can possibly 'know' this last number is a mystery to me because you need no passport to enter.

Just to give a surreal idea of these numbers - of the 13 temporary exhibitions which have each attracted more than 300,000 entries, the Dali show in 1979 rests in first place with a score of 840,662. This weekend's 'Open Doors' action is expected by the centre's management to clock in another 100,000.

Some of the Nuts and Bolts of Beaubourg

Closed on Tuesdays, as are most museums.

Monday, and Wednesday to Friday, 12:00 to 22:00.
Sundays and holidays, 10:00 to 22:00.

Métro: stations Les Halles, Châtelet, Rambuteau or Hôtel de Ville.

Mintel: 3615 beaubourg
Web: - the museum
Web: Cyberia: - the café

Daily pass: includes everything except Brancusi Atelier, 70 francs and reduced is 45 francs.

Annual pass: 160 francs, reduced 120 francs. This pass includes entry to the Brancusi Atelier. (Annual passes only good until 31. March 1997 on account of reconstruction.)