Carmel de Valenciennes

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

The church of the Carmel of Saint-Saulve, constructed from 1954 to 1966, is a remarkable example of architecture-sculpture of which Pierre Szekely is one of the major figures. The church comprises numerous objects conceived by the sculptor and which are coherent with the architectural whole, and inseparable from it. The Church of the Carmel is comparable in its plastic effects and sculptural aspect to the chapel Notre-Dame du Haut at Ronchamp by Le Corbusier. From an architectural point of view, the church of Pierre Szekely and Claude Guislain is arguably less successful, but the construction illustrates a current quite different from that of Le Corbusier's production and which can be considered as a reaction to forms arising from modern doctrines. The different functions (reception, entrance, choir, communal space, convent entrance) are defined by spaces composed of cylinders and nested volumes, differently bathed in light. The overhead lighting of the choir is composed of inclusions of colored resins representing the twelve precious stones of the Apocalypse. The whole is built of bricks covered with a render of white lime.