PARIS— After a $135 million renovation a state funeral parlor in the 19th arrondissement in Paris has been transformed into a contemporary art center, reports the Telegraph. Dozens of painters, designers, and film-makers will use the macabre building Centquatre, known as the "factory of grief," as their studio.

Built in the rough and tumble district of northeast Paris, Centquatre was originally an abattoir before being converted into a funeral parlor in 1905 with a staff of over 1,000 employees. At the end of World War II, the remains of some concentration camp victims were stored there, but it was not generally used as a morgue.

In return for studio space, artists must be willing to let the public view their work. There is a vast shortage of affordable studio space in Paris, which has caused artists to live in cheaper European cities, such as Berlin. Fréderic Fisbach, co-director of the center said, "Paris has a great lack of artists' work space. This center alone won't solve that, but it will create an effervescence that the city needs."