The document provides information about Chapel Notre Dome du Haut and Le Corbusier's architectural works there. It describes the unique natural setting and the architectural complexes created by Le Corbusier and others. Le Corbusier built the iconic chapel in 1955 using exposed concrete and innovative design. The site now receives over 65,000 visitors annually and is a candidate for the UNESCO World Heritage List.

1. Chapel Notre Dome du Haut
http://www.collinenotredameduhaut.com/discover/a_unique_place.1579.html The Hill Notre-Dame du Haut, located in Ronchamp (Franche- Comté) in the east of France, is a place of great historical, artistic and spiritual value. Le Corbusier built a chapel there in 1955. Jean Prouvé made a three-bell portico in the 1970's and recently, in 2011, Renzo Piano also worked on the hill. Thus a harmonious architectural complex was created - composed of the Monastery of St. Clare, the tourist entrance pavilion (la Porterie), the Bell Tower (le Campanile) and the chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut. The last, an iconic building, is a candidate for the World Heritage List in 2016.
All these contemporary architectural works are part of an exceptional natural environment. The panorama unfolds on four horizons: to the north, with a unique view of the Vosges mountains, to the east, on the Belfort Gap, to the south, on the first peaks of the Jura mountains and, to the west, on the valley of the Saone river.
The Hill is a site of Marian pilgrimage, the two most important events being held on 15th. August and 8th. September, the days of the Assumption and the Nativity of the Virgin Mary.
Since 2009, a community of Poor Clares has lived on the hill and maintained the spiritual vocation of the site.
Today, the site receives over 65,000 visitors per year from around the world. Various cultural events liven up the site throughout the year.
Since 1789, the Hill Notre-Dame du Haut has been the private property of a non-profit organization (Association Oeuvre Notre-Dame du Haut : AONDH) which has responsibility for its upkeep.
LE CORBUSIER
Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was a native of the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland). As an architect, painter, town planner, writer and humanist, he was a prominent figure of the modern art movement.
He defined “five points of architecture” :
-the theory of the plan,
-the free facade,
-the principal of pillars
-banner windows

2. -roof terraces. He called for the rationalization of construction and the extensive use of new materials, particularly concrete for its purity and rendering. In addition, the idea of “brutalism” describes the aesthetics of raw concrete. The architect, in search of the a greater coherence of his works, develops the “Modulor”, a system of universal proportions based on the human scale.
Much involved in the spread of new ideas, Le Corbusier created, in 1928, the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM). One particularly well-known idea led to the Athens Charter in 1933, which developed, within the theme of the “functional city”, the zoning and separation of spaces according to the four main functions of the city: life, work, leisure and transport.
Among Le Corbusier’s main achievements we can mention the Villa Savoye (1928-1931, Poissy- France) and the “Unite d’habitation” (1946-1952, Marseille - France). As to the urban projects, he worked in Chandigarh (India) between 1952 and 1959.
Le Corbusier’s most famous religious work is the chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut, built in 1955 on a hill overlooking the town of Ronchamp. “By building this chapel, I wanted to create a place of silence, prayer, peace, inner joy,” said Le Corbusier on the inauguration day of the building. Le Corbusier was one of the first architects to work simultaneously in several countries. He was acknowledged in his lifetime.
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Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, 1950 - 1955 The main part of the structure consists of two concrete membranes separated by a space of 2.26 meters forming a shell which constitutes the roof of the building. This roof, both insulating and water-tight, rests on top of short struts which form part of a vertical surface of concrete covered with "gunnite" and which, in addition, brace the walls of old Vosges stone provided by the former Chapel which was destroyed by the war-time bombings. These walls which are without buttresses follow, in plan, the curvilinear forms calculated to provide stability to this rough masonry. A space of several centimeters between the shell of the roof and the vertical envelope of the walls furnishes a significant entry for daylight. The floor of the Chapel follows the natural slope of the hill clown towards the altar. This floor is constructed of a cement paving poured in place between battens, the design of which is dictated by the Modulor. Certain parts, in particular those upon which the interior and exterior altars rest, are of beautiful white stones from Bourgogne, as are the altars themselves. The towers are constructed of stone masonry and are capped by cement domes. The vertical elements of the Chapel are surfaced with mortar sprayed on with a cement gun and thon white washed-both on the interior and exterior. The concrete shell of the roof is loft rough, just as it comes from the formwork.

3. Watertightness is effected by a built-up roofing with an exterior cladding of aluminium. On the interior the walls are white; the ceiling gray, of unfinished concrete; the flooring of cement and stone; the benches of African wood created by Savina; the communion bench is of cast iron made by the Foundries of the Lure.
Daylighting is furnished by a system of openings covered with clear glass, and, in places, with colored glass. This has no connection to stained glass; Le Corbusier considers that this form of illumination is too closely bound to old architectural notions, particularly to Romanesque and Gothic art. Therefore here there is no stained glass, but glazing through which one can see the clouds, or the movements of the foliage and even passers-by.
The interior of one of the these chapels is painted in intense red while a little further on the wall leading to the sacristy is painted in violet. The main door for processions (9 m2) pivoted in its middle, is covered on each face with eight panels of sheet steel enamelled in vivid colors at 760°C. This is the first time that this technique has been applied in architecture. The door opening eastward into the platform for open-air ceremonies is of cast concrete, with a bronze handle.
The Chapel (as are all of Le Corbusier's structures) is laid out by means of the Modulor. It has therefore been possible to reduce the whole to ridiculously small dimensions, in places, without making the spectator aware of them. Le Corbusier acknowledges the fact that here is manifested the plastic issue which he has termed "ineffable space". The appreciation of the dimensions stops aside before the imperceptible.
On one of the photographs reproduced here one can see the Chapel on its walls of masonry made from salvaged stones. A large number of these stones remained unused; it was decided that instead of carting them away, to pile them up in a pyramid at the edge of the grassed area. This was done so. One day Le Corbusier was asked to put up a monument to the Frenchmen who were killed on the hill at the time of the Liberation. As the pyramid was already there, Le Corbusier asked Maisonnier for the hammered metal dove which he had so beautifully made at the latter's workshop several years before. A mould for a bronze casting was made from this hammered metal. It was set up on a staff made of two angle irons gripping a slab of cast iron inscribed with both cut-out and raised letters. Thus a monument came into being-well situated, well proportioned and casting no more than the effort of conceiving the idea.

4. In the Chapel the only remaining unfinished work is the installation of the altar (tabernacle) and the final emplacement of the cross; the latter, occupying a position on the axis of the high altar, produces a mutual lessening in importance of these two opposing elements. The wooden cross will be placed somewhat off to the right; the enamelled tabernacle will receive the ritual cross.
La Sagrada Familia
http://barcelonasurroundings.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-sagrada-familia-gaudis-last-work.html
The Sagrada Família – Gaudí’s last work
When planning your trip to Barcelona, it’s impossible to ignore Gaudí’s masterpiece – the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia (‘Holy Family’). Once you are in Barcelona, the Sagrada Família can be seen everywhere, from postcards and guide books to snow globes in souvenir shops, and it’s a monument that all Catalans are proud of. This Basilica is no hidden secret, but rather an imperative for anyone visiting the city.
We would like to give you an idea of its history and architecture, as well as offering you some practical advice for visiting the church. At the bottom of the article, you will find some important information such as opening times, and the official website.
History
Although the Sagrada Familia is recognised as Antonio Gaudi’s masterpiece, he wasn’t the person responsible for placing the first stone, on 19 March 1882. This responsibility fell to the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar y Lozano, who was planning a smaller church than the one that was eventually constructed. Once sufficient funding for its construction was collected, work began in 1882 under Villar’s supervision. Very shortly, a disagreement arose with donators, and responsibility for construction was passed over to Antoni Gaudí, who at that time was 31 years old.
The original idea was that the church, dedicated to the Holy Family, would be entirely financed by donations. When Gaudí received a large donation from an anonymous source, he decided to transform the old neo-Gothic project into something more monumental and innovative as far as its shape and structure.
In 1914 Gaudí decided to dedicate himself exclusively to the Sagrada Familia project, even installing small living-quarters within the building, so that he was always on hand. Tragically, on

5. 7 June 1926, on his way to the building, he was run over by a tram, eventually dying three days later. All of the city dressed in mourning and the Pope agreed for Gaudí to be interred in the unfinished crypt of the Sagrada Familia.
Gaudí had planned for a construction period of 200 years for the church. However, he did not leave a complete construction blueprint, as he wanted to count on the opinion of future generations.
After his death, several different architects continued work on the monument. Since that time, construction work has never been suspended, even during the difficult times of the Civil War when plaster models to scale, drawings and plans of the building were lost and destroyed.
Design
The Sagrada Familia comprises five main naves and three transverses, forming a Latinate cross. The five main naves have a total length of 90 meters and the transverses of 60 metres. When construction finishes, there will be 18 towers with a height of between 90 and 170 metres – the latter being the highest tower on a church in the world. These towers are dedicated to the apostles, the evangelists, Mary and Jesus Christ.
The three entrances symbolise the three virtues: Faith, Hope and Love, and are symbolic of the lifetime of Christ. The Nativity Façade is dedicated to his birth, the Glory façade is dedicated to his glory period and the Passion façade is symbolic of his suffering.
During the later years of his life, Gaudí planned many areas of the building so that they could be built by other people in the future. He did so by combining geometrical forms, chosen for their formal, structural, luminous, acoustic and constructive qualities: hyperboloids, paraboloids, helicoids, conoids and ellipsoids – surfaces which are ruled, making construction easier.