Journées du Patrimoine 2024 at Hôtel de Massa, home to the Société des Gens de Lettres

Every year, the Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days ) take place on the third weekend in September, offering a rich variety of cultural discoveries. This year, the 41st edition of this cultural event will take place in Paris and the Île-de-France region on September 21 and 22, 2024. It's an opportunity for enthusiasts and the curious alike to conquer the fabulous heritage of Paris and the Ile-de-France region through a vast program of often free visits and special events at museums, monuments, churches, hospitals, institutions and even in places usually closed to the public!

For this edition, theHôtel de Massa, headquarters of the Société des Gens de Lettres, invites us to discover its history! Built between 1778 and 1784 on the Champs-Elysées by the architect Le Boursier, this private mansion was originally a "folie", or pleasure house, a country resort on the Champs-Elysées promenade, which became fashionable at the end of the 18th century.

• To be read
• Tips for the week of November 18 to 24, 2024 in Paris: free or inexpensive outings
• What to do in Paris and the Paris Region in November 2024? Our tips and ideas for outings

When the 1926 president of Galeries Lafayette wanted to buy the land to build a large shopping complex, the building was in danger of being demolished. The solution? Move the building, stone by stone, to the 14th arrondissement and a plot of land in the Observatoire gardens, in order to save the structure. In 47 days, the 2,480 stones were numbered piece by piece and row by row, and then, from January to October 1928, the work kept Paris on its toes!

In 1929, the Société des Gens de Lettres, a society founded in 1838 by famous writers including Balzac, Hugo, Dumas and Sand, moved in. Today, the Hôtel de Massa's treasures include Art Deco furniture (commissioned in 1928 from the Maîtrise des Galeries Lafayette), a listed historic monument unique in France, as well as a collection of writers' busts (19th and 20th centuries) and letters and manuscripts by authors who have marked the history of the Société des Gens de Lettres.

Heritage Days 2024 in Paris at the Hôtel de Massa: the program

• History of the Hôtel de Massa and the Société des Gens de Lettres
  September 20 - 22
  

  In a unique exhibition created to coincide with the restoration work currently underway, discover the astonishing history of the Hôtel de Massa, from its 18th-century construction on the Champs-Élysées to its stone-by-stone dismantling and reconstruction at 38 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques in 1927, the illustrious people who have lived there and the Société des Gens de Lettres that occupies it today. As the Hôtel de Massa is currently being renovated and is inaccessible to the public, this exhibition is presented on the wall surrounding 38 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques.