The Centquatre - 104: art center in the former municipal undertaker site

Looking for an original and unusual place to spend some time in Paris? We have a perfect place for you – The Centquatre. The Centquatre - 104 is an art center opened on October 2008 in the former municipal undertaker site in the 19th district. No, this is not a mistake, this Parisian cultural center is opened in the former morgue. Today, this is a cultural space open for the public and artists from all over the world. It is also the perfect place for families, where parents and children can spend some quality time together.

Little bit of history

For over 120 years, the building housed the city undertakers. Designed in the style of industrial architecture, largely using glass and brick and cast iron structures, the building is made up of two large halls with glass roofs, unloading quays, stables and cellars. Over 1 000 people worked here, organizing 150 funeral processions per day, but the activity declined and the site was closed in 1998. The building is registered as a historic monument since January 1997 and the cultural and art center the Centquatre - 104 was inaugurated in October 2008. Today, it is a space for residencies, production and promotion for the artists from all over the world. Imagined as a collaborative artistic platform, open for all kinds of arts, The Centquatre – 104 is also the perfect place for families.

The art center

The Centquatre – 104 is imagined as a collaborative artistic platform, open for all kinds of arts. You can attend different kind of shows, concerts and exhibitions, or to see theater, dance, circus, visual art, performances and even unidentified hybrid forms. But it is also a place where you can have a lunch or a drink, or you can get a book or some interesting idioms in a second hand shop. If you are an artist, the Centquatre – 104 gives you opportunity to practice for free in its spacious living area. You can come here to dance, juggle, play or sing. Amateur or professional, both are accepted.

The green house

The Green House is probably the most original space in the Centquatre – 104. Inspired by Françoise Dolto, a famous French pediatrician and psychoanalyst, the Green house (la Maison verte) is an artistic place welcoming children and their parents. This place is designed and imagined by the artist Matali Crasset and it shows its artistic vocation from the start. It’s a peaceful area, filled with art where children and parents are encouraged to discover, through games, and their creative capabilities a new way of being together. It is the perfect place where children and parents can play together, read, paint, draw, dream and exchange.

Practical information

The Centquatre - 104: an art center in the former municipal undertaker site is open every day except on Mondays.