Firminy is a coal-and-steel town in the Loire valley that happens to hold the largest group of Le Corbusier buildings in Europe. The architect was invited here in the 1950s to plan a new neighbourhood, Firminy-Vert, for workers whose old houses were crumbling, and over the next decades several of his designs went up: a housing block, a stadium, a youth and culture centre and, finished long after his death, a great concrete church. The Maison de la Culture is the long, bold building with a sagging roof that looks as if it had been poured from a jug, and it is part of the UNESCO listing given to his work in 2016.
Firminy itself, with about 18,000 people, is a modest place, and the neighbouring city of Saint-Étienne is bigger, rougher and more interesting than its reputation. The whole valley was built on mining and metalworking, with slag heaps now grassed over and old pit-heads standing like monuments. The Gier and Ondaine valleys have been quietly reinventing themselves for decades, and the contrast between Le Corbusier's utopia and the humble brick terraces nearby tells a good deal about twentieth-century France.
For a rider, the pleasure lies in what surrounds it. To the east the Pilat massif rises in a long wooded ridge, with small twisting roads climbing from the valley to open crests. To the south and west the Velay hills spread out in a rolling plateau of pasture and basalt, where the roads are quiet and the views are wide. Fuel is plentiful in Firminy and Saint-Étienne, and the old centre has cafés and brasseries. The building is easy to find, with parking nearby, and the inside is usually open to visitors on set days, so check the schedule before you go.
Concrete is not everyone's idea of beauty, and the weather in the Loire valley is often grey. But on a clear day, with the shadows sharp and the sky blue behind the sloping roof, the structure has a clarity that stays with you. Stand a while on the terrace, then ride up into the hills.