Ronchamp Chapel

In the département of Haute-Saône, a small town is the home of a great Lady who stands high over a picturesque little valley: Notre-Dame-du-Haut, the famous chapel of Ronchamp, designed by the no less famous Le Corbusier. Notre-Dame-du-Haut, standing atop Bourlémont Hill, is a major example of contemporary religious art, a place of worship conceived of by the imagination of Le Corbusier.

The path leading up to the chapel has been trod, over the centuries, by many thousands of pilgrims, come to pray at the feet of Mary. Ronchamp therefore bears the vestiges of a long history and tradition of pilgrimage to worship the Holy Virgin, something which is deeply rooted in local culture.

The white colour and the delicate curves of the building contrast with the rawness of the unsurfaced exposed concrete. Le Corbusier, who fell in love with the site, wanted to create a chapel that "gave to the four horizons, and received from the four horizons".