Seriously, it really indicates how tiny the town is. I couldn’t believe it when we arrived at the town’s train station, it looked like a bus stop.
Seeing no taxi stand, we were about to panic. Then we noticed a map on the “bus stand”. Dude, Ronchamp is not just tiny … it’s microscopic! I think there’s only five streets here or something. We arrived at the cathedral after a good 15 minutes walk uphill.
We’ve learnt from the Paris Notre-Dame that even famous historical churches are still used for Sunday services. We timed ourselves so that it will be a Sunday when we visited the Notre-Dame du Haut. You will notice that there are chairs outside the building for Sunday morning mass. So rest assured, 50 years after completion the space outside is still used as designed and intended by the architect. A good hindsight, considering houses are renovated immediately upon purchase these days.
It is immaculate. For those who say that modernism is devoid of any humanistic values or spirituality must see this building in person. The moment you step inside, you’re wrapped in an intense microcosm, best described by the architect himself as, “a place of peace, prayer and silence.” Inside, you hear a constant and rather loud bellowing noise, in the dark space lit by poetry in windows, the church has a real and tangible feeling of calmness, solitude and sovereignty.
Too bad we are not allowed to take pictures inside the church.
Lunch in front of the Notre-Dame…
Is this safe?? BCA ????
Architects who’ve never been here, put this on your next travel itinerary !!
The Église Saint-Pierre is the only building that was never finished after Le Corbusier’s death. In fact, it was pretty much left just half constructed, with exposed steel bars – for 20 odd years. After 25 years of effort by one of his former students, that one unfinished building is now finally getting completed.
When the church is finished, it will be the third religious building built by Le Corbusier. The other two are the Convent of La Tourette and Notre-Dame du Haut in Ronchamp. This is a really big deal because the town of Firminy-Vert will then officially exceed Chandigarh in having the highest concentration of Le Corbusien work. As a university student, my father visited Chandigarh and got deeply inspired there. So to see Firminy-Vert means a lot to me.
Eglise Saint Pierre. Can’t get in because it is a construction site.
Maison de la Culture. The interior is quite small in reality. The angled wall must have really exaggerated its size.
Unité d’Habitation. The last of five Unités. This is the biggest of them all, with 400 individual homes because all the apartments are single storey.
I don’t know what to say, so overcomed by the fact that we’re here. I’ve cited this building in at least ten essays. Both me and Jeff took about 450+ photos and videos.
They turned the lower floors into offices which felt really strange – having only seen photos of this masterpiece empty. The toilets are actually working and allowed for public use !!!
Jeff did his business and flushed in Villa Savoye!
a young capricious bloke with a penchant for the strange, unknown, and exotic. Here lies the journals of my worldly travels, as I trot around the globe in search of adventure!
