RONCHAMP, NOTRE-DAME DU HAUT

Notre-Dame du Haut Ronchamp is a pilgrimage shrine chapel situated on the hill of Ronchamp (Haute-Saône) in eastern France, dedicated on June 25, 1955 and an important achievement in 20th-century church architecture.

The present structure was preceded by two churches: the first, probably a Romanesque structure dedicated to Our Lady of September (month of pilgrimages), was given an extension in the 19th century and was destroyed by fire in 1913; a second church (Neo–Gothic) was raised in its place, but in September 1944 the hill became a battlefront between French and German troops, and the church was reduced to crumbling walls.

Le Corbusier (Charles Édouard Jeanneret, architect, painter, writer), engaged by a diocesan committee animated by Canon Ledeur, drew plans for a new chapel that were approved by Archbishop Dubourg of Besançon on Jan. 20, 1951. Construction began in the spring of 1953 and ended in 1955.

The chapel has a human scale of modest dimension with the nave varying in height from about 15½ feet at its lowest to 33 feet at its highest over the main altar. The nave can accommodate about 200 people (seating designed for 48) and serves well for small groups or for individual worship. It houses also three side chapels. Utilizing the natural site of the hillside, an outdoor sanctuary with altar and pulpit is permanently installed to serve the exceptional crowds on pilgrimage days.

The east, north, and west walls and chapel towers are built of reclaimed stones, are curvatured for greater stability, and are covered with cement gun plaster (whitewashed gunite concrete); the south wall, mostly hollow, is a gunite shell structured with concrete posts and beams. The roof is composed of two thin concrete shells (about two inches thick) held apart by seven beams (each different) that rest on columns contained in the walls. The inner surface of the roof does not touch the walls, permitting a thin horizontal shaft of light to enter. The enameled panels of the main doors and the windows were all designed by Le Corbusier. Other elements are: pews, which have concrete supports with wooden backs, seats, and kneelers executed by Savina; communion table of cast iron; altar in dressed stone from Burgundy; floor paving of stone in the sacred places and concrete elsewhere.

The chapel derives its spatial order from the action of the liturgy giving each space its relative spiritual value. Thus the nave, walls, floor, and roof expand space toward the sanctuary with an easy orchestration of natural shapes. The inner space is animated with pure light, skillfully and precisely managed through many shafts that create a dimmer nave, lighten the concrete roof, and intensify the sanctuary spaces. The exterior curvatured walls reveal the shape of interior volumes; the whole structure derives strength from a sensitively designed correspondence with its natural setting.

Bibliography: e. n. rogers, "Il metodo di Le Corbusier e la forma della 'Chapelle de Ronchamp,"' Casabella continuita No. 207 (1955) 2–6. c. e. jeanneret–gris, The Chapel at Ronchamp (New York 1957); Le Corbusier: Chapelle N.–D. du Haut à Ronchamp (Paris 1957). j. petit, Le Livre de Ronchamp, Le Corbusier (ibid. 14; Paris 1961). p. merkle et al., Ein Tag mit Ronchamp (Einsiedeln 1958). j. pichard, Modern Church Architecture, tr. e. callmann (New York 1962). g. mercier, L'Art abstrait dans l'art sacré (Paris 1964) 85–87. g. e. kidder smith, The New Churches of Europe (New York 1964) 86–97.

[a. taves]