LA TOURETTE: THE LE CORBUSIER MONASTARY, by Anton Henze

Lund Humphries & Co Ltd, London, 1966, 71 pp., 8 1/2" X 9 1/4", Hardcover

Very good in a chipped dust jacket (see photos)

In 1952 Le Corbusier was commissioned "to dwell in the silence of men of prayer and study and to construct a church for them". The result was his impressive Convent of La Tourette, marking a significant step in modern religious architecture. Beginning with the rectangular form common to the Cirstercian monastic tradition, he created a building whose stark form contrasts beautifully with the organic elements of the interior court and the grasslands surrounding it. The church itself is a model of simplicity, the cement has been left rough and the well located sources of light evoke a feeling of silence and reflection. The order s precept of prayer, study and reflection is aptly mirrored in the architecture.