Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

The second Parisian museum featured on the list, the Centre Georges Pompidou is in many ways the opposite of Le Louvre. Unlike the former palace, this museum is an entirely modern creation.

Strikingly, many of the functional elements of the building such as the water pipes, escalators and air conditioning are located on the exterior, housed in colour-coded pipes and frames.

Whilst controversial, many have praised the modern design of the centre as a step away from elitism, with the jury of the 2007 Pritzker Prize holding it responsible for “transforming what had once been elite monuments in popular places of social and cultural exchange”.

Image credit: Leland