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Eveux

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Visit Eveux (Rhone-Alpes, France)

Eveux is a small village known for its unusal monastery, the La Tourette Monastery designed by Le Corbusier. It is in the Rhone department in the Rhone Alpes region.

Exploring Eveux

Eveux is a small village 25km north-west of Lyon. This quiet village suddenly gained international awareness in 1959 following the completion of the La Tourette Monastery on the hill overlooking the village. The La Tourette Monastery was designed by Le Corbusier and was in fact his last important work in Europe. It is widely considered to be one of the key works of the Modernist period.

Built for a community of silent monks renowned for their austerity, Le Corbusier designed them a monastery with 100 cells, communal libraries and classrooms and a refectory as well as a church and rooftop cloister.

The monastery is built in concrete and its lines are very simple and austere, the severity alleviated by Corbusier's trademark strip windows. In fact it is these windows that, particularly from the inside, give the building much of its beauty.

The whole building is very austere and the church particularly so. Careful use of natural light and bold colour give the church a warm glow to counteract the severity of the straight walls, high ceiling and concrete finish.

The monastery is set on a sloping hillside with excellent views over the surrounding countryside.

The Monastery is open to guided visits and if can be visited for one or two nights to take advantage of its quiet spirituality for personal reflection and meditation. It is also available for overnight stays to archeology students visiting the monastery.

Places Nearby

There are a few sights in the Lyon area that architecture fans will want to visit:

The Cité des Etoiles is just South of Lyon and is an apartment complex designed by Jean Renaudi and built in 1976 to 1982.

The Quartier des Gratte-Ciels (skyscraper quarter) in Villeurbanne on the edge of Lyon is another 'Utopia', a new style of apartment complexes built in the late 1920s.

Also in Lyon is the Cité Industrielle designed by Tony Garnier.

Le Corbusier fans will want to visit Firminy-Vert with apartments and a church (L'eglise St Pierre) designed by Le Corbusier. This is a bit further away though - to the SW of St Etienne.