The French Ministry of Culture has defended its support for a museum dedicated to the Swiss-French architect despite his links to the Vichy regime.
A Le Corbusier museum project has triggered controversy in France. Last week a group of intellectuals protested against this tributeExternal link to the famous architect. In an article in the Le Monde paper, nine signatories accused the Ministry of complicity in the rehabilitation of a man who was complicit of fascism and antisemitism.
On Monday, the French Ministry of Culture defended the “exceptional nature” of Le Corbusier’s work. It refused to comment on the accusations levelled against the architect preferring to leave it to historians to handle “the legitimate debate” on his complicity with the Vichy regime.
France, the ministry reiterated, had supported, with six other countries, the inscription of Le Corbusier’s work into the World Heritage List in 2016 even though such accusations revealed by several books had already been controversial in 2015.
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Le Corbusier: unravelling the myth
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The 50th anniversary of Le Corbusier's death has sparked a huge controversy in France about his relationship with the Vichy regime. Three new books cast a harsh light on this Franco-Swiss architect, while an exhibition at the Pompidou Centre turns a blind eye to his darker side.
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