aixcentric

Next year, a 19.2m euro, 3-year renovation will begin at the Cité du Livre: what is planned and what will happen to those famous books (see photo)?

My first reaction was to wonder why anything so fundamental was needed, but when I read about the plans, realised that a complete architectural reorganisation will bring big improvements to the centre.

The current building: during the 19th century, this was a match factory which only closed in 1972.  By 1989, the 6000 sqm of space was being transformed to house a modern library, a poet’s literary archive, offices, a gallery space, a cinema, an amphitheatre and a café.  The basement was a secure, air-conditioned space for 80,000 books, the bequest of the 18th century Marquis de Mejanes who specified that the people of Aix should have access to them.

The objectives:  the thinking is that everything is rather hidden away, surrounded as the complex is by large new buildings like the Pavillon Noir, and hard to access from the gare routier and the Encagagne area.  The plan is to increase visibility and improve circulation outside, while inside improving the digital connectivity, adding space for musical instruments to be used, and providing rooms for creative worshops and computer/digital training. The 80,000 books in the basement have just been rehoused elsewhere in town, releasing valuable space for new activities.

A further wish is to make this a centre for socialising on summer evenings.  The existing courtyard will be transformed into a restaurant and have a stage. The new director of the Cité du Livre has already carried out a similar project at Nimes.

Timing: the work is due to start in the autumn of 2022 and be finished by the end of 2025.  It’s planned in three stages and should roll out without the centre being closed.

And the books?  They are going. I was astonished to read this but La Provence reports, ‘Emblematiques du lieu, les grands livres seront remplacés par un autre oeuvre d’art’.  Apparently they hide electricity infrastructure and video-surveillance equipment, who knew?

It sounds a timely modernisation and yes the complex should be more accessible, but I hope they can find room for those very popular books!