Restoration of the famous chapel designed by Le Corbusier, in Ronchamp

In January 2014, the vandalism of one of the stained glass windows of the Notre-Dame-du-Haut chapel, in Ronchamp (Haute-Saône) – Le Corbusier’s masterpiece – had the positive effect of unlocking the first tranche restoration of the building. A program had already been established but was awaiting lack of funding. Completed in 1955, the chapel suffers from necrosis due to a slow chemical interaction between the concrete and the scrap metal. “If nothing is done, the chapel will disintegrate within thirty years. Technically, we know how to easily neutralize the phenomenon, but it is very expensive: between 2 and 3 million euros! » sighs Jean-François Mathey, president of the Œuvre Notre-Dame-du-Haut association, owner of the chapel. The anger of the Le Corbusier foundation against the association, after the breaking of the stained glass window, pushed the prefect of Haute-Saône to bring together all the protagonists. The State has committed 50% for a first phase – this year the tower and the south facade – and has asked local authorities to make an effort. Because the association that owns the site cannot finance anything for two or three years, despite the place’s annual revenue: 70,000 paying visitors from all over the world. It is blocked by the loans taken out for the construction, by the Italian Renzo Piano, of the monastery of the Poor Clares, inaugurated in 2011 at the foot of the chapel. The association has launched a call for donations (tax deductible). As for the Securit glass stained glass window, the only one to bear Le Corbusier’s signature, it is in a thousand pieces in the workshop of a Burgundian master glassmaker. We should move towards making a… copy.