Photo Essay – La Hune Bookstore’s Second Life, Paris
A great landmark’s afterlife.
[Text and photos by Mayank Austen Soofi]
Once upon a time one of the most beautiful bookshops in the world was in the most beautiful part of beautiful Paris.
La Hune, next to the historic Saint-Germain-des-Prés church, closed down on 14 June, 2015, due to depleting business. The Delhi Walla was there around that time to capture its last days. (I wrote about it here.)
Almost a year later I again stepped inside what used to be La Hune. It now belongs to YellowKorner gallery and is a house of photographs in its new avatar as a bookstore-gallery. The coffee-table books are on the ground floor and limited editions of art images are on the first floor.
The new occupants are respectful of the sentiments attached to the former bookstore and have not replaced the old La Hune banners with theirs. The building continues to look the same from outside; the interiors, however, have been completely altered, save for the sweeping curved staircase with black handrails.
This fragment of the past makes the present less of a curious creature and helps longtime La Hune loyalists to seek beauty in the new.
La Hune, past & present
1. (La Hune, then)
2. (La Hune, now)
3. (La Hune, then)
4. (La Hune, now)
5. (La Hune, then)
6. (La Hune, now)
7. (La Hune, then)
8. (La Hune, now)
9. (La Hune, then)
10. (La Hune, now)
11. (La Hune, then)
12. (La Hune, now)
13. (La Hune, then)
14. (La Hune, now)
15. (La Hune, then)
16. (La Hune, now)
17. (La Hune, then)
18. (La Hune, now)
19. (La Hune, now)
20. (La Hune, now)
21. (La Hune, now)
Recent Comments