La Tourette, sleeping in a light work by Le Corbusier

Silence is a very precious asset and, according to experts, it has different shades.

It doesn't sound the same anywhere.

The motivated traveler who wants to enjoy a pure experience with silence and likes to sleep in places against the current will find in the convent of Sainte-Marie de La Tourette, in Éveux (France), a different hotel, more linked to mysticism than tourism. masses.

It is difficult to find a quieter place than this corner of the French countryside that is not even easy to get to.

Hidden away, away (as they say) from the madding crowd and with very generous views, La Tourette is located 28 kilometers west of Lyon, on a 16,000-hectare piece of land in the middle of a small valley that opens onto the forest.

It is one of Le Corbusier's masterpieces and a crucial religious building in the 20th century.

No wonder it is the work that Emilio Tuñón would have liked to sign, as he stated in

the recent National Architecture Award, as it condenses all the thought of Le Corbusier, who was here three times: once before starting the project to explore the terrain, another during the works and another at the inauguration.

And one more, the definitive one, because his body was kept in vigil here one day before burying it, at his express wish (he wanted to return to La Tourette) and of the Dominican Father Couturier, his great friend, whom he met during the construction of the chapel of Ronchamp and for whom Le Corbusier accepted the project.

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William J. Curtis, in

said about La Tourette: "She has a severe moral beauty that arises from the austere interplay between concrete, color and light."

The traveler, who must in advance (it is not a hotel that is called the same day), can sleep in the cells of the Dominicans.

They are very austere, furnished with a wardrobe, a bed, a desk and a small terrace.

The atmosphere generated by natural light is more of a sacristy than a

.

As only silence allows you to contemplate the other, know that the other who accompanies you will sleep in the next cell.

A little history

La Tourette is an exception, since normally the Dominicans lived in the heart of the cities, where the powers were concentrated and where the libraries and universities used to be.

The second exception is the collaboration of Le Corbusier, who agreed to build a building where 100 Dominicans would live, whose main functions were to study theology and philosophy, pray, and lead convent life.

It was a training center.

He chose the best location based on sunlight, parallel to the road, and the fall of the terrain to which the building was adapted.

From a distance, he conveys the sensation of seeing a gray concrete machine on a hill.

Detail of the religious building designed by Le Corbusier in the French town of Éveux.

Bildarchiv Monheim GmbH / Alamy (Alamy Stock Photo)

Everything is organized according to the light: the rooms are upstairs (for individual living);

the study and intellectual life rooms are in the middle, and below, the community life with the refectory.

The church was placed to the north to favor natural light in the rooms and in the recreational spaces.

La Tourette is a work of light.

In 1953 work began on the plans.

Between 1956 and 1959 it was defined and began to function as a convent for 10 years.

The great cultural and social change of the late sixties affected the monastery, which gradually lost its function as a place of formation.

It is then that it opens to the outside, to tourism (scarce, obvious), but preserving the idea of ​​living in a community.

Staying overnight in La Tourette is therefore an immersion in the retirement life and in the architecture of Le Corbusier.

Here keys are concentrated in his imagery, such as the use of pure geometric shapes, basic materials such as concrete and primary colors such as red, green, yellow and blue.

Therefore, anyone looking for a pretentious, baroque or overly ornamental hotel will feel like an elephant in a china shop.

Interior of the church of La Tourette, where primary colors predominate.

Olivier Martin Gambier (Le Corbusier Foundation)

Among all the austerity, that of the dining room is moving, due to the dialogue with the landscape generated by the large windows, the furniture created

by the great British designer Jasper Morrison or other furniture by the brilliant couple Ray and Charles Eames, joy made design.

The church is a world apart.

It is worth spending time and, if possible, a mass.

At twelve in the morning, when the shades of light light up a unique space, one understands the humanity of the architect who knew that light symbolized faith, but that it could also be made functional.

Its interior, a concrete box that thanks to the light cannons transmits an unmistakable spiritual essence, reveals itself as the most powerful space.

Interior of one of the Dominican cells where you can sleep in the convent of La Tourette.

Olivier Martin Gambier (Le Corbusier Foundation)

Waking up on the terrace of the cell, or having breakfast, looking at the horizon through the dining room windows, one wonders how such a spiritual and perfect place could be created out of nothing, so in keeping with the landscape, so sidereal.

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