Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp is one of the most important works of 20th-century architecture — a radical pilgrimage chapel designed by Le Corbusier in 1955 whose sweeping white concrete roof (said to be inspired by a crab shell), irregularly shaped windows of coloured glass, and organically curved walls broke every rule of traditional church architecture and created a building so unconventional that it continues to astonish visitors 70 years later. Perched on a hilltop in the Vosges mountains of eastern France, on the site of a medieval pilgrimage chapel destroyed in World War II, Ronchamp is Le Corbusier’s most personal and poetic work — a UNESCO World Heritage site that attracts architecture pilgrims from around the world to the unlikeliest of rural French locations.
Quick Facts: Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp
- Best time to visit: Year-round; the interplay of light through the coloured glass windows is most dramatic in the morning or late afternoon; the hilltop setting is extraordinarily atmospheric in all seasons
- How to get there: ~1.5 hours from Basel by car; ~3 hours from Strasbourg; the nearest town is Belfort (~30 min); parking at the base of the hill, 10-minute walk up
- Entry fee: ~€10 (adult) including the neighbouring monastery and porter’s lodge (both also designed by later architects in dialogue with Le Corbusier)
- UNESCO: Part of “The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier” transnational World Heritage site (inscribed 2016)
Notre Dame du Haut is a unique Roman Catholic chapel of the French architect Le Corbusier. It is situated at Ronchamp in Haute-Saone department in the region of Franche-Comté in France. It was built between 1950-1955 and is one of the most daring solution of the church buildings in the history of architecture at all.
Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, 1887 – 1965) has been dominated in French architecture from the 1920. Notre Dame du Haut, was built on the foundations of a Christian chapel of 4th century, which was destroyed during the World War II. The construction of Notre Dame du Haut represents an extreme outcome of Corbusier’s artistic endeavors. The chapel has a simple structure with two entrances, the main altar and chapel under the towers. Concrete and stone, which were the remnant of the original chapel, form the basics of the monumental structure.
Notre Dame du Haut is the first example of post-modern architecture. Its exclusivity – both in the history of European architecture and architectural history of the church – can everyone appreciate in Ronchamps.
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Have you visited Ronchamp or discovered Le Corbusier’s architectural poetry? Share your impressions of Notre Dame du Haut in the comments! ⛪
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