Sainte-Marie de La Tourette

Sainte-Marie de La Tourette is a Dominican priory designed by Le Corbusier at 760 Route de La Tourette in Éveux, near L'Arbresle, about 25 kilometres north-west of Lyon. Built from 1956 to 1960 and listed by UNESCO in 2016, it can be visited inside only on guided tours (€10 for adults in 2026), and it suits architecture lovers and anyone exploring the Lyon region.

Father Couturier and the 1953 commission

In 1953, through the efforts of the Dominican Father Marie-Alain Couturier, a champion of modern art, the order commissioned Le Corbusier to build a study house on the La Tourette estate where young friars would train. The brief reportedly asked for a silent dwelling for one hundred bodies and one hundred hearts. It became one of his most important late works and his last major building in France.

The composer and engineer Iannis Xenakis, then working in Le Corbusier's studio, played a major part. He designed the undulating glazed panels of the façades, with an uneven rhythm of concrete mullions in place of a regular window grid, and the light devices that pierce the church.

Raw concrete on pilotis around a courtyard

The building is a block of raw concrete raised on pilotis over a wooded slope and arranged around a courtyard, with the friars' cells on the upper floors and shared rooms below, joined by cloister walkways. The church is a tall, plain concrete box. Its crypt and sacristy are lit by oblique openings nicknamed light cannons and machine guns, some painted in strong colours. The park covers more than 50 hectares.

In July 2016 the priory was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of 17 sites in The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier. Contemporary art exhibitions are held here in some years.

Xenakis's glass and about a hundred rooms

La Tourette was designed with about a hundred rooms for students and teachers, with the friars' cells on the top level. Xenakis's undulating glass covers three of the four exterior faces, and vertical wavy glass sheets also control the light in the large shared spaces and long corridors. The building was renovated in 1981 and still works as a priory for a smaller community of friars than it was built for, so visitors are asked to keep to the tour route.

50 single guest rooms bookable online

The priory has 50 single guest rooms that can be booked online up to 24 hours before arrival, with meals for guests, and it hosts seminars and group stays.