Located on Avenue de Poissy, on the border between Maisons-Laffitte and Le Mesnil-le-Roi, the house is the headquarters of Instytut Literacki, a Polish publishing house founded in 1946 by Jerzy Giedroyc, Zofia Hertz, Zygmunt Hertz, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński and Józef Czapski. The publishing house was established to promote cultural and educational and pro-poaganda initiatives in the Polish Army abroad. Initially, it was to focus on the production and distribution of books, journalism and works of fiction, but this idea was soon partially abandoned in favour of the publication of the monthly magazine Kultura. The parting with the military profile of the institution took place just two years after the opening of the institute.

History of the building

The building was purchased in 1954, with contributions from the Polish community and Culture readers. The first floor was intended as bedrooms for the editorial staff, and the ground floor as a place of work: Jerzy Giedroyc's study, library, offices and archives. The work of the editorial staff of a few people resulted in the publication of over 400 books, 637 issues of the Kultura monthly and 171 issues of Zeszyty Historyczne. Over time, some of the archives were moved to a pavilion located in the garden, where guest rooms were also arranged.

Before 1989, the Maisons-Laffitte house served as a cultural and political centre for the Polish community, following in the tradition of the independence thought of the Hotel Lambert. Political émigrés, artists and writers (including Czesław Miłosz) met there, discussing concepts for a future Poland both on the spot and in the pages of Kultura. The house was sometimes referred to as the "informal independence embassy", and the circle centred around Giedroyc was referred to as the "epistolary republic".

The contemporary fate of the building

Today, the building is the seat of the Kultura Literary Institute Association (founded in 1999), which is the heir to the Literary Institute. The association works to promote Polish culture abroad, organises meetings and discussions, invites guests from Poland, manages the "Kultura" archive and conducts educational activities in France and online. The House of "Culture" can be visited by appointment by telephone or email.