Designed by Le Corbusier, completed 1956 Ronchamp, France Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut (1956) stands on a hill overlooking the village of Ronchamp, France, just miles from the Swiss border. A pilgrimage site since the 13th century, the building now receives as many students of architecture as worshipers of the Virgin Mary, to whom it is dedicated. Although it is now considered one of the masterpieces of modern architecture and a landmark work in Le Corbusier’s formidable oeuvre, the building’s peaceful hilltop setting belies a controversial history. The courting of Le Corbusier (born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret in 1887) began in early 1950, when the task of rebuilding what remained of a war-wrecked chapel on Bourlémont hill was designated to La Société Immoblière (development corporation) de Notre-Damedu- Haut. The corporation’s original intention was to restore what remained of the existing chapel, which had been destroyed by German bombing in 1944. After reviewing the co...