Culture & book lovers a unique address in St Germain des Pres: 27ruejacob

The mansion at 27, rue Jacob, historic seat of Editions du Seuil, metamorphoses into a forum for debate and exhibition, under the leadership of the team of the journal XXI. Visit.

We knew the 104. It will perhaps also count with 27. More intimate than the huge cultural center of the rue d'Aubervilliers, 27, rue Jacob - this is both the name and address of the place - wants a new place of intellectual debate, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Pres. 

In this little house in height, since it opened in April 2011, it was able to listen to Regis Debray, Todd and (the inevitable) Edgar Morin discourse on democracy, discover Gerard Garouste serigraphs, and meet Cabu Plantu or enjoy a concert with Claire Gibault to the stick. "In a world invaded by digital culture, we must perpetuate the physical encounters, Laurent Beccaria theorized, editions of the Arena boss and co-promoter of 27. I want in this place we do" business with the spirit ", for the words of Gaston Gallimard. "

It must be said that the spirit has always blown on this little mansion, dubbed the Grid, which was the studio of Ingres, although he had a Rumor once housed a brothel. The address is best known for hosting the Seuil from 1945. And we all in the eye of the famous logo of the publishing house listed building, with its famous grid and its equally famous tree - a yew - which still stands proudly in the yard. Needless to say, Garcia Marquez to Calvino, Sollers in Irving, the spirit of letters has always blown on the 27th. Also surprising that the threshold has moved two years ago, a new publishing house, The Arena, has taken over. Ines de la Fressange was also at the time, but Pascal Fleming, son of the founder of the Threshold, wanted a place devoted to the book. "He made us irrefusables conditions", néologise Laurent Beccaria. So go to The Arena, home that combines restless strokes editorials - books by Eva Joly, anthologies of New Yorker drawings - and backlist titles, with the flagship magazine XXI (and her little sister dedicated to photojournalism, 6 months), whose success is undeniable.

"It was very important that the place has a real step-by-street door, through which people can come," said Laurence Corona, Director, 27. Six months of work later, the ground floor was transformed into library, extended by a small lounge topped with a canopy. Elise Muchir designers, Franklin and Florence Desclouds Bourel devised a system of light furniture on wheels that you push on the sides to each event. 

The room can accommodate a hundred people. Just register - free - online.With a single time slot - 19 to 20 hours, except in special cases, such as open house XXI of the journal which has seen a thousand people ...

"The specificity of the place is that the teams of the publishing journals and working just above explains Laurence Corona. We are like craftsmen who put their production sold in the bookstore ground floor. " Sensitive to the spirit of the band, the team organized to mark the release of each new issue of XXI one pot which are invited a number of readers or subscribers, and will establish a very extended lunch on the first Tuesday of the month for "friends of the family". "I strongly believe in these rituals, where people go and talk. Thus editorial projects are born. We must open the doors and windows of 27," says Laurent Beccaria.

After the inauguration of the Magnum photo gallery, a few steps away, two years ago, the arrival of the enterprising team of the Arena in the shadow of the legendary street if Jacob does mark a timid start reconquest of the intellectual world of the luxury, in St. Germain des Pres? Laurence Laurent Beccaria Corona and want to believe. With a credo that is their mantra: "The walls have a memory."