Video: Churches Built by an Atheist: Le Corbusier's Strange Religious Buildings
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Le Corbusier is one of the most famous and at the same time scandalous architects of modernism: geometric projects of glass and concrete, a proposal to demolish and rebuild several world capitals, a revolution in modern architecture, history with attribution. But it was he, an atheist and a rebel, who in the last years of his life designed … churches.
Chapel in Ronshan
On this place since the early Middle Ages there were religious buildings, but later the buildings were somehow unlucky - in 1913 the chapel on this place burned down after a lightning strike, its successor in 1944 was destroyed during the bombing … And when the question arose about its restoration, it turned out that a new one is cheaper to build - you just need to find a good architect. Le Corbusier was chosen by the local authorities. It was very strange: the architect grew up in a Protestant family, but had a strong dislike for religion at the time. He called the church "a dead institution" and in every possible way dismissed the church customers - but those, as if inspired by some divine insight, did not back down. In the end, they seduced Le Corbusier with the complete absence of any restrictions.
The chapel became his first religious building and changed a lot. The architect found his faith - though not a church one, and realized the importance of religion in people's lives. And at the same time, he abandoned his - literally - reinforced concrete "principles of modern architecture", creating something soft, smooth, organic, harmoniously blended into the landscape. This "betrayal" was explained by the purpose of the building. It is good to live and work in rectangular buildings, but perpendiculars are alien to expressing spiritual aspirations.
There is practically no traditional Christian symbolism in the chapel in Ronshan, but there are references to the first, catacomb, period in the history of Christianity - the inner space of the chapel seems to be a cave, the windows and confessional are as if carved into the rock. Services are held in the chapel to this day, but most of its visitors are tourists who are keen on modern architecture.
Monastery of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tourette
The building of the monastery was built for the Dominican monks. Referring to Romanesque architecture, it looks more like the skeleton of an abandoned industrial building and evokes thoughts about what will happen to cities if people disappear - it makes such a gloomy and majestic impression. The architect planned to solve the cult building according to the secular principle, creating a feeling of security, integrity, a kind of "family". The customers recommended that he rely on traditional monastery buildings, and, in fact, the layout of the courtyard corresponds to the preserved medieval buildings. A gloomy huge building, closed in itself, is sharply opposed to an idyllic forest landscape - just as the austere and ascetic monastic life opposes itself to the instinctive, passionate, natural.
Here Le Corbusier still applies his own "principles of modern architecture", but already interprets them in a more brutal way - heavy forms, rough concrete, flat roofs, inclined supporting structures, flashes of color against a background of gray surfaces …. From above, it becomes clear that the entire monastery complex is designed in the form of a cross inscribed in a rectangle. Inside, there are cells that resemble rather train compartments or ship cabins - the architect has been developing the theme of the most compact and functional living space all his life, although in de la Tourette he implemented it in a completely different way from what the customers expected. Narrow corridors with tape windows lead to the cells; colored geometric stained-glass windows attract attention. The rhythm of window bars, which looks unusual both outside and inside, thanks to natural light, creates different patterns on the walls and on the floor during the day. Lighting in general plays a big role in this project - for example, light cannons are located at the level of the roof. No soundproofing is planned in the building, and thanks to the excellent acoustics created by the huge empty space, any rustle takes on a booming, otherworldly sound.
The name of the construction manager of the monastery, the Greek Janis Xenakis, an architect, composer and political refugee, is associated with the unusual geometric glazing. Today the monastery does not function as a religious building. Conferences, exhibitions and other cultural events are held on its territory.
Church of Saint-Pierre de Firmini
Le Corbusier never saw this building - it was completed forty years after his death. In the mid-50s, the mayor of Firmini, a friend of the architect, invited him to work on the improvement of the city. The local parish refused to finance its construction in the 60s, arguing that the project does not meet the needs of the parishioners, and French law prohibits funding for religious construction from the state budget. Finally, in 2004, the financing issue was resolved, the drawings of Le Corbusier by his pupil José Ubreri were finalized and changed so that the building would comply with modern building standards - for example, air conditioning systems were added. Ubreri mentioned that if the church is popular, its authorship will be attributed to Le Corbusier, and if it is not to the taste of the authorities, residents of the city and tourists, then it will forever be associated only with the name of Ubreri.
Even for modernist architecture, this church looks unusual. Its tapered shape is deeply symbolic. First, it refers to the industrial character of Firmini itself, a mining town. Secondly, it personifies the connection between heaven and earth - windows in natural light project the outlines of constellations onto the walls, and the cone-shaped shape of the building is a hint of a spaceship. In fact, the church in Firmini does not function as a religious building. Its first floor, originally designed for parish needs, houses a museum dedicated to Le Corbusier's activities, and it itself exists as a monument to him.
Text: Sofia Egorova.
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