Futur Nobel de littérature, le Premier Ministre britannique prenait un soin de styliste à l'écriture de ses discours de guerre. Au plus noir de la bataille d'Angleterre, dans un Londres harcelé par les bombardements allemands, chaque mot devait porter, frapper. Du sang, du labeur, de la sueur, des larmes. Mais le génie de Churchill, c'est beaucoup plus qu'un sens permanent de la formule. C'est une métrique incomparable, une musique et aussi cette voix, que l'on croit entendre, rocailleuse, emmêlée, essoufflée; six ans durant, elle a incarné la résistance des Alliés contre l'Axe. Le lecteur trouvera rassemblé ici le meilleur des discours de guerre de Churchill. Indisponibles en français depuis la fin des années cinquante, ils ont été entièrement retraduits, commentés et sont présentés en regard de leur version originale.
Lire la suite Fermer

On 15 April 2019, as the entire world looked on in disbelief, the roof framework and spire of Notre-Dame de Paris erupted into a blazing inferno, before vanishing from the Paris skyline altogether, consumed by the flames and leaving gaping holes in the cathedral's vaults. The collective sense of loss was profound and overwhelming. From the devastation of the deeply damaged edifice to its resurrection five years later, this book chronicles one of the most remarkable construction sites of the twenty-first century. It also tells the story of an extraordinary challenge on an immense scale, met with unflagging dedication and pride both within the cathedral itself and in workshops scattered throughout France. Rebuilding Notre-Dame de Paris documents the official history of this tremendous human achievement, illustrated with over 250 photographs and plans, and enriched by exclusive first-hand testimonies from the craftsmen and women, architects and engineers who combined their expertise and worked together to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris
Lire la suite Fermer

In January 2021, the Pinault Collection will make the headlines by opening a new museum of contemporary art in Paris' Stock Exchange. To transform this historic place located in the heart of the capital, François Pinault turned to Tadao Ando, as he had already done in Venice. Weaving a link between past and present, the Japanese architect transfigures one of the iconic monuments of Parisian heritage.
Designed as an architectural walk, the book opens on the Medici column built during the Renaissance and closes on the concrete cylinder of Tadao Ando. The reader also visits the Halle au Blé built during the reign of Louis XV. Admired by its contemporaries for its circular shape, constituting a resolutely original bias, soon reinforced by the addition of a metal dome - a real technological feat -, it was transformed into a stock exchange during the Universal Exhibition of 1889.
Tracing the evolution of the building, in its architecture as in its uses, the author focuses on the use of circles in architecture, the preservation of a unique heritage and the aesthetics of concrete. This work constitutes the first history of the Bourse de Commerce, from the 16th century to the installation of the Pinault Collection. Considered at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries as one of the most popular places in the capital, the Bourse de Commerce has finally regained its position as a beacon of its district, Les Halles.
Lire la suite Fermer

Un beau livre anniversairepour les amoureux du champagne Billecart-Salmon.

La maison Billecart-Salmon célèbre son deux-centième anniversaire : en 1818 deux jeunes gens de Mareuil-sur-Aÿ ont été les créateurs d'une maison de champagne promise à un bel avenir. À travers 18 récits, Yves Tesson raconte la façon dont chacun de ses dirigeants successifs a su faire face aux défis de son époque. Deux siècles d'aventures rassemble une série d'histoires véridiques pleines de rebondissements, souvent surprenantes, toujours instructives, qui illustrent comment chacune des générations a su préserver avec passion et exigence, le coeur de son métier : la qualité de son champagne.

A square tower from the medieval period, an aqueduct built for Louis XIV, panelling and porcelain that evoke the salons of the Enlightenment and the Belle Époque: concealed within the Château de Maintenon are many secrets accumulated over the centuries by the celebrated individuals who have lived inside its walls.

Over 50 specially commissioned photographs reveal this fairytale château that famously gave Madame de Maintenon her title of Marquise.