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	As a result of the intense correspondence and several meetings		As a result of the intense correspondence and several meetings
	between Otlet and his ‘cher ami’ Le Corbusier in 1928, the		between Otlet and his ‘cher ami’ Le Corbusier in 1928, the
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	Elements of a Synthesis, 5th ed. (Cambridge		Elements of a Synthesis, 5th ed. (Cambridge
	Mass.: MIT Press, 1985), 244.</ref>		Mass.: MIT Press, 1985), 244.</ref>
−
	Both the World Museum and the tower of Khorsabad combine the spiral		Both the World Museum and the tower of Khorsabad combine the spiral
	with the rectangular floor plan and have a sanctuary in the base.		with the rectangular floor plan and have a sanctuary in the base.
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	Similarly, for Karel Teige the Mundaneum was		Similarly, for Karel Teige the Mundaneum was
	“the expression of ideological and metaphysical imagination” and		“the expression of ideological and metaphysical imagination” and
−	proved that Le Corbusier was unable to break with the histori-	+	proved that Le Corbusier was unable to break with the historicism of the old capitalist world. <ref> Baird, “Karel Teige’s Mundaneum,” 597.</ref> According to El Lissitzky, Le
−	cism of the old capitalist world. <ref> Baird, “Karel Teige’s Mundaneum,” 597.</ref>According to El Lissitzky, Le
	Corbusier had in his “encyclopaedic poem” gone back to historic		Corbusier had in his “encyclopaedic poem” gone back to historic
	forms of an Egyptian pyramid with “a pharaoh’s grave,” especially		forms of an Egyptian pyramid with “a pharaoh’s grave,” especially
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	nothing less than “a place of worship for Idols and Gods.”		nothing less than “a place of worship for Idols and Gods.”
	Considered in the context of the aftermath of the competition		Considered in the context of the aftermath of the competition
−	for the Palace of the League of Nations, these alleged refer-	+	for the Palace of the League of Nations, these alleged references to ancient monuments seem an odd digression in the
−	ences to ancient monuments seem an odd digression in the
	curriculum of Le Corbusier. It would seem only logical that the		curriculum of Le Corbusier. It would seem only logical that the
	Mundaneum was in line with his offensive against historicist		Mundaneum was in line with his offensive against historicist
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	Corbusier stated, he had intended to show with the Mundaneum		Corbusier stated, he had intended to show with the Mundaneum
	that architecture is “a manifestation of order.”		that architecture is “a manifestation of order.”
−		+	While Le Corbusier emphasised in his defence the “strictly utilitarian, functional” character of the World Museum, “so violently
−
−	Figure 4. Le Corbusier, The World
−	Museum (1928) © FLC
−
−
−	While Le Corbusier emphasised in his defence the “strictly utili-
−	tarian, functional” character of the World Museum, “so violently
	attacked,” there seems to be good reason to believe that he		attacked,” there seems to be good reason to believe that he
	intended the Mundaneum to be a modern sanctuary charged with		intended the Mundaneum to be a modern sanctuary charged with
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	smooth and blank wall” which had sculptures on the inside of		smooth and blank wall” which had sculptures on the inside of
	“figures of the great initiates in which humanity, in the course of		“figures of the great initiates in which humanity, in the course of
−	its history, had incarnated all its mystic power, its need of eleva-	+	its history, had incarnated all its mystic power, its need of elevation, self-sacrifice, and altruism.” <ref>
−	tion, self-sacrifice, and altruism.” <ref>
	“Il entre dans cette enceinte cylindrique,		“Il entre dans cette enceinte cylindrique,
	lisse et muette qu’il avait aperçue d’en haut,		lisse et muette qu’il avait aperçue d’en haut,
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	suggests that the World Museum was projected by Le Corbusier		suggests that the World Museum was projected by Le Corbusier
	as a centre of initiation in occult knowledge, and throws another		as a centre of initiation in occult knowledge, and throws another
−	light on the “promenade architecturale” developed in the spiral-	+	light on the “promenade architecturale” developed in the spiralling shape that hovers above the Sacrarium. Just as the visitor was
−	ling shape that hovers above the Sacrarium. Just as the visitor was
	introduced to the secrets of the human genius in the Sacrarium,		introduced to the secrets of the human genius in the Sacrarium,
	one could interpret the spiral trajectory of the World Museum		one could interpret the spiral trajectory of the World Museum
	as an initiation in the “essence” of human history. After all, Le		as an initiation in the “essence” of human history. After all, Le
	Corbusier mentions how the visitor in that trajectory sees the		Corbusier mentions how the visitor in that trajectory sees the
−	paintings about “the separation of air, water and the earth”, repre-	+	paintings about “the separation of air, water and the earth”, representations of Giotto, Michelangelo, “the portraits of Rousseau and
−	sentations of Giotto, Michelangelo, “the portraits of Rousseau and
	Voltaire,” “the Sun King, its men and their works”, and of “all		Voltaire,” “the Sun King, its men and their works”, and of “all
	Enlightened Europe” until “Haussmann, Napoleon III, and the		Enlightened Europe” until “Haussmann, Napoleon III, and the
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	human history; it deemed to reveal the occult dimension of history		human history; it deemed to reveal the occult dimension of history
	itself, its “mystic power,” the “synthesis of humanity.”		itself, its “mystic power,” the “synthesis of humanity.”
−	In the spatial symbolism of the World Museum, Otlet’s formula-	+	In the spatial symbolism of the World Museum, Otlet’s formulation of the Mundaneum had remained intact. <ref>Alfred Willis makes a similar argument in
−	tion of the Mundaneum had remained intact. <ref>Alfred Willis makes a similar argument in
	“The Exoteric and Esoteric Functions of Le		“The Exoteric and Esoteric Functions of Le
	Corbusier’s Mundaneum,” 17–18.</ref> Otlet meant the		Corbusier’s Mundaneum,” 17–18.</ref> Otlet meant the
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	by the Planetarium in front of the World Museum, in the same		by the Planetarium in front of the World Museum, in the same
	arrangement as in Otlet’s 1927 schema of the Mundaneum.		arrangement as in Otlet’s 1927 schema of the Mundaneum.
−	Furthermore, the pyramidal form of the World Museum is remi-	+	Furthermore, the pyramidal form of the World Museum is reminiscent of the religious metaphors of the mountain and the tower,
−	niscent of the religious metaphors of the mountain and the tower,
	which we also can be found in the drawings of Garas, the Belgian		which we also can be found in the drawings of Garas, the Belgian
	architect Geo-Jean Henderick (1879–1957), Jean Delville, and the		architect Geo-Jean Henderick (1879–1957), Jean Delville, and the
	latter’s student Hubert Dupond (1901–82) which Otlet kept in		latter’s student Hubert Dupond (1901–82) which Otlet kept in
−	his archives and which symbolise a centre where along a vertical	+	his archives and which symbolise a centre where along a vertical axis the divine comes into contact with the profane. <ref> Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols
−	axis the divine comes into contact with the profane. <ref> Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols
	(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,		(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
	1991), 163. They can be found, e.g., in the		1991), 163. They can be found, e.g., in the
	descriptions of the temple of Jerusalem, the Babylonian temples, and the myth of the Tower		descriptions of the temple of Jerusalem, the Babylonian temples, and the myth of the Tower
−	of Babel: Eliade, Images and Symbols, 41–42.</ref> In the same	+	of Babel: Eliade, Images and Symbols, 41–42.</ref> In the same way as the Sacrarium sculpted in stone the ineffable Spirituality of Mankind, Otlet imagined the architecture of the Mundaneum to consist of “pierres parlantes,” of “material objects charged with meaning.” For Otlet, the Mundaneum is what Mircea Eliade would describe as a real place that is consecrated by “hierophany,” by a breakthrough or a manifestation of sacred Ideas into the world. <ref>Eliade, Images and Symbols, 27–57.</ref>
−	way as the Sacrarium sculpted in stone the ineffable Spirituality
−	of Mankind, Otlet imagined the architecture of the Mundaneum
−	to consist of “pierres parlantes,” of “material objects charged
−	with meaning.” For Otlet, the Mundaneum is what Mircea Eliade
−	would describe as a real place that is consecrated by “hierophany,”
−	by a breakthrough or a manifestation of sacred Ideas into the
−	world. <ref>Eliade, Images and Symbols, 27–57.</ref>

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Latest revision as of 17:00, 26 June 2016

As a result of the intense correspondence and several meetings between Otlet and his ‘cher ami’ Le Corbusier in 1928, the structure and secular character of Otlet’s diagram of 1927 is evident in Le Corbusier’s design of the Mundaneum of 1928. Le Corbusier’s design of the World Museum as Karel Teige and El Lissitzky remarked, formally resembled the observatory of the palace of Khorsabad. Otlet included a model of the Babylonian temple in his International Museum in Brussels, in which he gave a personal guided tour to Le Corbusier, and Le Corbusier must have known the reference from Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture (1905) and other architectural treatises. ^[1] Both the World Museum and the tower of Khorsabad combine the spiral with the rectangular floor plan and have a sanctuary in the base. (Ironically, Teige in 1930 praised the terraced roof structure of Adolf Loos’ Grand Hotel Babylon (1923) which lighted up the interior of this pyramidal building of the “Aztec-Mexican type” that consisted not of a sacred mortuary hall but a ballroom and skating rink.) ^[2] Similarly, for Karel Teige the Mundaneum was “the expression of ideological and metaphysical imagination” and proved that Le Corbusier was unable to break with the historicism of the old capitalist world. ^[3] According to El Lissitzky, Le Corbusier had in his “encyclopaedic poem” gone back to historic forms of an Egyptian pyramid with “a pharaoh’s grave,” especially in the Sacrarium at the heart of the World Museum which was nothing less than “a place of worship for Idols and Gods.” Considered in the context of the aftermath of the competition for the Palace of the League of Nations, these alleged references to ancient monuments seem an odd digression in the curriculum of Le Corbusier. It would seem only logical that the Mundaneum was in line with his offensive against historicist academicism. Le Corbusier responded, besides to the accusations of academicism and historicist formalism, also to the accusation of religious symbolism that was being made about his design for the Mundaneum. He argued that the functionality of modern architecture did not exclude it from having a spiritual dimension and that the museum of human creation had the shape of a spiralling pyramid to respond to “the absolute continuity of events in history.” The Sacrarium was designed in such a way as to show “how great geniuses have, in their time, incarnated the general current of ideas and have convulsed the world. For new things have not convulsed the world, new ideas have: the things being merely the manifestation of ideas.” ^[4] In the same way that Eiffel had made the Eiffel Tower as a ‘temple to calculation’, Le Corbusier stated, he had intended to show with the Mundaneum that architecture is “a manifestation of order.” While Le Corbusier emphasised in his defence the “strictly utilitarian, functional” character of the World Museum, “so violently attacked,” there seems to be good reason to believe that he intended the Mundaneum to be a modern sanctuary charged with occult symbolism. In various other works Le Corbusier had used a mystical and occult iconography that J. K. Birksted characterises as “personal, mysterious, and secretive, if not, at times blank” and which “reveals itself to those whom it may concern” and therefore has an aura that, Birksted argues, “parallels exactly the Masonic and compagnonnique notion of initiation.” ^[5] The same kind of revelation reserved for initiates can be found in the Sacrarium, which Le Corbusier described as “a surrounding cylindrical, smooth and blank wall” which had sculptures on the inside of “figures of the great initiates in which humanity, in the course of its history, had incarnated all its mystic power, its need of elevation, self-sacrifice, and altruism.” ^[6] Probably, the notion of ‘great initiates’ that Le Corbusier used in his description referred to Les Grands Initiés, a book by Edouard Schuré (1841–1929) which Le Corbusier is known to have read. ^[7] Schuré was a member of the Theosophical Society and an acquaintance of Richard Wagner, Rudolf Steiner, and Jean Delville. In Les Grands Initiés (1889) he recounts the path of “initiation” or the search for profound esoteric knowledge by figures such as Rama, Krishna, Hermes, Moses, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato, and Jesus. ^[8] The presence of the sculpted portraits of ‘the great initiates’ in the Sacrarium suggests that the World Museum was projected by Le Corbusier as a centre of initiation in occult knowledge, and throws another light on the “promenade architecturale” developed in the spiralling shape that hovers above the Sacrarium. Just as the visitor was introduced to the secrets of the human genius in the Sacrarium, one could interpret the spiral trajectory of the World Museum as an initiation in the “essence” of human history. After all, Le Corbusier mentions how the visitor in that trajectory sees the paintings about “the separation of air, water and the earth”, representations of Giotto, Michelangelo, “the portraits of Rousseau and Voltaire,” “the Sun King, its men and their works”, and of “all Enlightened Europe” until “Haussmann, Napoleon III, and the plan of Paris.” ^[9] In the same way as in the International Museum in Brussels, the World Museum was not just an exhibition about human history; it deemed to reveal the occult dimension of history itself, its “mystic power,” the “synthesis of humanity.” In the spatial symbolism of the World Museum, Otlet’s formulation of the Mundaneum had remained intact. ^[10] Otlet meant the Sacrarium to be a symbolic monument which gave a place to the Spirit of History, to the ideals or principles which had acted as the arrowhead of historical progress. The Sacrarium was, like all other religious constructions, a sacred place where one could have direct contact with the sacred; a space that materialised the “Centre” or that place which is sacred above all. The act of climbing and descending established by the World Museum can be interpreted as a constructed ritual in which one first breaks away from the profane space in order to discover the sacred, and then to bring back the divine Spirit to the Earth, symbolised by the Planetarium in front of the World Museum, in the same arrangement as in Otlet’s 1927 schema of the Mundaneum. Furthermore, the pyramidal form of the World Museum is reminiscent of the religious metaphors of the mountain and the tower, which we also can be found in the drawings of Garas, the Belgian architect Geo-Jean Henderick (1879–1957), Jean Delville, and the latter’s student Hubert Dupond (1901–82) which Otlet kept in

his archives and which symbolise a centre where along a vertical axis the divine comes into contact with the profane. ^[11] In the same way as the Sacrarium sculpted in stone the ineffable Spirituality of Mankind, Otlet imagined the architecture of the Mundaneum to consist of “pierres parlantes,” of “material objects charged with meaning.” For Otlet, the Mundaneum is what Mircea Eliade would describe as a real place that is consecrated by “hierophany,” by a breakthrough or a manifestation of sacred Ideas into the world. ^[12]

1. ↑ Giuliano Gresleri and Marcello Fagiolo both make the comparison: Marcello Fagiolo, “La nuova Babilonia secondo Le Corbusier,” Ottagono 13, no. 48 (March 1978): 22-29. Gresleri and Matteoni, La città mondiale. Le Corbusier refers to the Khorsabad complex in: Le Corbusier, Urbanisme (Paris: Flammarion, 1994 [1925]), 80. On possible other references, see: Stanislaus Von Moos, Le Corbusier: Elements of a Synthesis, 5th ed. (Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, 1985), 244.
2. ↑ Karel Teige, Modern Architecture in Czechoslovakia and Other Writings (Los Angeles, Calif.: Getty Research Institute, 2000 [1930]), 123.
3. ↑ Baird, “Karel Teige’s Mundaneum,” 597.
4. ↑ Baird, “Karel Teige’s Mundaneum,” 605.
5. ↑ J. K. Birksted, Le Corbusier and the Occult (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 2009), 305–06.
6. ↑ “Il entre dans cette enceinte cylindrique, lisse et muette qu’il avait aperçue d’en haut, et dedans, il trouve, façonnées dans la Pierre aux époques où elles surgirent, et taillées par la main de ceux qui les adorèrent, les figures des grands initiés en qui l’humanité, au cours de sa marche, incarna toute sa puissance mystique, son besoin d’élévation, d’abnégation, d’altruisme. Grands et indiscutables moments de l’histoire humaine.” Paul Otlet and Le Corbusier, Mundaneum, 128, de L’Union des Associations Internationales (Bruxelles: Palais Mondial, 1928), 38–39.
7. ↑ Vidler, “The Space of History,” 174.
8. ↑ Édouard Schuré, The Great Initiates. A Study of the Secret History of Religions (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1961).
9. ↑ Otlet and Corbusier, Mundaneum, 38.
10. ↑ Alfred Willis makes a similar argument in “The Exoteric and Esoteric Functions of Le Corbusier’s Mundaneum,” 17–18.
11. ↑ Mircea Eliade, Images and Symbols (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991), 163. They can be found, e.g., in the descriptions of the temple of Jerusalem, the Babylonian temples, and the myth of the Tower of Babel: Eliade, Images and Symbols, 41–42.
12. ↑ Eliade, Images and Symbols, 27–57.