Ancienne imprimerie nationale

The brick facade on rue de la Convention features tall, arched windows and the heavy, industrial permanence of a fortress. This is the former site of the Imprimerie Nationale, the state printing house that moved here in nineteen hundred and twelve. For decades, the clatter of massive presses inside churned out everything from parliamentary decrees to precious literary editions. One night, a fire in nineteen ninety-seven destroyed entire archives, yet the remaining steel presses still echo the precision required for the government's official work.