Abstract
Last February the Péniche Louise-Catherine, a reinforced concrete barge built by Le Corbusier at the end of the 1920s for the L'Armée du Salut, has sank in the waters of the river Seine in Paris. For years the Péniche, which has long been classified as historic monument, has suffered from negligence as being considered a minor work among the vast biography of the French-Swiss architect, the attempts of a private association to safeguard it notwithstanding. The story of the asile flottanti is even more paradoxical as in the light of the recent nomination of part of Le Corbusier's architectures for the Inscription on the World Heritage List.
