Episode 3: Laureline Dupont, deputy editorial director of L’Express, presents the mysterious Alma Palace which houses many people close to Macron’s government.
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The team: Charlotte Baris (presentation), Mathias Penguilly (writing and editing) and Jules Krot (direction).
Credits: INA, France 5
Music and design: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Image credits: Gilles Targat/Photo12 via AFP
Logo: Anne-Laure Chapelain/Benjamin Chazal
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Charlotte Baris: The address of the place we are presenting to you today is “11 quai Jacques Chirac” in Paris. It is located between the Quai Branly museum and the Orthodox church of the Holy Trinity, on the left bank of the Seine, just a few hundred meters from the Eiffel Tower. At first glance, it is not very original: it is a four-story building, made of cut stone, with about ten windows per level. The roof is decorated with a sculpted pediment and a French flag. In Paris, most ministry headquarters look like this. But this place is special.
If you doubt it, I advise you to open the map application on your smartphone. You enter the address: “11 quai Jacques Chirac” therefore. And once geolocated, switch the visualization to “satellite” mode. You should notice something abnormal. The building is blurred. And in the surroundings, it is the only one.
It’s simple, in Paris, there are only seven buildings in this situation: sovereign ministries (like the Interior or the Armed Forces), military bases and of course the Elysée Palace. But the place where we are – which is nicknamed the Palais de l’Alma – is neither a ministry nor a barracks.
Since the beginning of the Fifth Republic, this large building has seen hundreds of relatives of successive presidents pass through and you will hear, it is full of intriguing stories. For this third episode, I will meet Laureline Dupont, the deputy editor of L’Express, and she is the one who will tell us everything.
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