This imposing building is not, as you might have supposed, the Ministry of Culture but the Google Cultural Institute at 8 rue de Londres in Paris.
It took me quite some to track down where the Institute was; the company appears in no hurry to publicise its whereabouts and indeed the building is not open to the general public. In the words of Wikipedia, and as far as the ordinary mortal is concerned, it is a website comprising "the Google Art Project, which features high-resolution images of artworks from museums in over 40 countries; the World Wonders Project, which presents three-dimensional recreations of world heritage sites; and archival exhibitions, many in partnership with museums around the world."
By the last mentioned of these, I think Wikipedia must be referring to "Historic Moments"... - "online exhibitions detailing the stories behind significant moments in human history." Or else the encyclopedia could do with an update.
Several of these exhibitions concern the Second World War and it so happens that I have just started reading a book with the same title by Antony Beevor. I can't quite put my finger on why I find this book so fascinating, apart from the fact that he is a born storyteller as well as a historian of repute. Is it because, as we move further away from the war we also move further away from the sort of special pleading that marred the histories of a generation ago: was Monty a better general than Ike? Who was for and who was against appeasement, etc? Whatever the reason, I find Beevor's ability to combine comprehensive details with telling insights utterly compelling.
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