On December 18, 2025, the Fondation de l’ENS and the leadership of the École normale supérieure were pleased to bring together donors and partners for the Foundation’s year-end evening, held in the historic reading room of the Letters Library—an emblematic site of the ENS’s intellectual heritage.
An opening focused on academic dialogue
The evening opened with welcoming remarks by Frédéric Worms, Director of the École normale supérieure, who recalled the central role of the library in the intellectual life of the ENS.
The subsequent contributions by Emma Dench, Professor at Harvard University, and Alessandra Coppola, Professor at the Università degli Studi di Padova, broadened the perspective, emphasizing how libraries remain, at an international level, essential places for transmission, research, and the circulation of knowledge.
Perspectives on the ENS Library
A roundtable discussion dedicated to the Library brought together Eliette Abécassis, Marie Darrieussecq, and Valérie Theis, Deputy Director for Letters at ENS-PSL.
Drawing on their careers and personal experiences, the speakers shared memories and their deep attachment to this place of work, memory, and inspiration. The discussion underscored the extent to which the library remains a living space, at the heart of intellectual excellence, research, and creative endeavor.
An ambitious restoration project for the historic reading room
The second part of the evening was devoted to the presentation of the restoration and reconfiguration project for the historic reading room, introduced by Iegor Groudiev, Director of ENS Libraries, together with the MLH architecture firm.
The project aims to preserve the room’s remarkable heritage features—parquet flooring, bookcases, and furnishings—while improving reception and working conditions. It also seeks to make the space fully modular, enabling it to host reading, lectures, and scientific events alike. The objective set by the Fondation de l’ENS is to mobilize patron support to launch the first phase of work by the end of the year, so that the renovated historic room can be inaugurated in November 2027, 180 years after its original opening on November 4, 1847, in the presence of Victor Hugo.
Conceived as a dialogue between heritage and contemporary uses, this major undertaking represents a key challenge for the future of the library.
A Commitment Made Possible Through Philanthropy
The evening concluded with remarks by Caroline Guény-Mentré, Director of the Fondation de l’ENS, followed by an informal moment of discussion.
The Foundation warmly thanks all of its patrons and donors for their continued loyalty and commitment. Their support makes it possible to carry out ambitious projects in service of research, the transmission of knowledge, and the preservation of the heritage of the École normale supérieure.
→ If you would like to receive the presentation of the restoration project or would like further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at: fondation-ens@ens.psl.eu