Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp at Wayfaring Travel Guide

Jun12

Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp

Published by Asya in Arts, Europe, France, Praying, Relaxing

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The Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, France, is a pilgrimage chapel, designed by Le Corbusier. A shrine for the Catholic Church at Ronchamp, was built for a reformist Church looking to continue its relevancy. It stands, all in concrete, above the town on the top of a wooded hill, white and reflective, visible from miles away, with its aerodynamic tower and wave-curved roof cutting into the sky beyond.

The complex shapes start from a theme of acoustic parabolas, playing a practical role on the east wall to reflect the sound from the outside altar for the pilgrims gathered on the hill. Simple, geometric shapes from the earlier buildings of Le Corbusier have given more “natural” shapes here, leading to the description at Ronchamp as the first Post-Modern building.

The interior of the chapel is modest, with plain pews down the south side only. The walls curve, the roof curves, and even the floor curves down towards the altar, following the shape of the hill. Above the plain altar, the east wall is punctuated by several pinhole-windows and by a single substantial window with the Madonna and Child in silhouette. In the interior, the spaces left between the wall and roof, as well as asymmetric light from the wall openings serve to further reinforce the sacral nature of the space and buttress the relationship of the building with its surroundings.