How a 'forgotten' Minnesota monastery inspired 'The Brutalist'

A view of the altar at Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. Photo: AFP

On a snowy prairie in Minnesota, the United States stands a monastery like no other. A concrete trapezoid banner encasing a bell tower looms over a giant, beehive-shaped front window composed of hundreds of gently shimmering hexagons.

For half a century, the existence of this modernist masterpiece has been mainly known to the Benedictine monks who worship there, and the hordes of architects who make pilgrimages to Saint John's Abbey Church each summer.