LAVAL CARMEL

The work of an architect from Tours, Michel Marconnet, this construction, located on the heights of La Pillerie, has had a somewhat confusing exterior since 1965: "It's grey! "It's cold! "It looks like a prison! ", say in petto those who have a holy horror of concrete, a privileged material for the construction of another convent designed in 1960 by Le Corbusier, that of Sainte-Marie de la Tourette in Evreux (Rhône). And this is why, like the latter, the Carmelite convent in Laval has, among other things, a rectangular plan adapted to the life of the 24 Carmelites who divide their time between prayer and various works: making altar bread, copying (word processing, offset) and making (liturgical vestments). This building listed as a World Heritage Site is not open to the public.