Grande Chartreuse () is the head

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

of the

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...

religious order. It is located in the

Chartreuse Mountains The Chartreuse Mountains (french: massif de la Chartreuse ) are a mountain range in southeastern France, stretching from the city of Grenoble in the south to the Lac du Bourget in the north. They are part of the French Prealps, which continue a ...

, north of the city of

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, in the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse () is a commune in the Isère department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. It is located in the Chartreuse Mountains, to the north of the city of Grenoble. The Grande Chartreuse, the head m ...

(

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

History

Carthusian monks leaving the Grande Chartreuse

Originally, the

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Nowaday ...

belonged to the See of Grenoble. In 1084, Saint Hugh gave it to

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

Saint Bruno and his followers who founded the Carthusian Order. The recipe of the alcoholic beverage Chartreuse is said to have been given to the monks of Grande Chartreuse in 1605Kait Bolongaro
An uncanny mixture: God, alcohol and even cannabis
''BBC'', 27 October 2016 by the French Marshal

François Annibal d'Estrées François-Annibal d'Estrées, duc d'Estrées (1573 – 5 May 1670) was a French diplomat, soldier and Marshal of France. Biography François-Annibal d'Estrées was the son of Antoine d'Estrées and Françoise Babou de La Bourdaisière, and ...

. For over a century, the monks worked on perfecting the 130-ingredient recipe. In 1764, the monks expanded their distillery for the first time to meet the demand of their popular ''Elixir Végétal de la Grande Chartreuse''.A monks love of Chartreuse
''Drinkingcup.net'' The distillery has then been moved several times in more remote areas because it represents a major explosion hazard for the surrounding habitations. The château went through many severe casualties, reconstructions and renovations. The current building was erected in 1688. In 1790, following the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, the monks were expelled from the monastery, and waited until 1838 to be reauthorized on the premises. The massive collection of 400 manuscripts and 3500 printed documents (including 300 incunabula) taken from the Grande Chartreuse during the French Revolution is curated and protected in the bibliothèque d’étude et du patrimoine of Grenoble, and an online scanned version of the documents is available on the digital platform of the library, Pagella, for researchers and interested people alike. Following the establishment of the Association Law of 1901 and its interpretation that effectively banned religious associations en masse, many notable religious institutions across France, including Grand Chartreuse, were closed by the French government. While some monks found refuge in Italy until 1929, others settled in the

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

region of Spain and relaunched the monastery's famous liqueur-producing activity. The Grande Chartreuse was sold in 1927 to a group of local entrepreneurs who invited the monks back to their monastery. In 1940, the Grande Chartreuse was reopened under the Petain regime. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Grand Chartreuse was used as a hospital by the Allied Forces.

Description

Visitors are not permitted at Grand Chartreuse, and motor vehicles are prohibited on the surrounding roads. A museum of the Carthusian order and the lives of its

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s and

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

s is located about two kilometers away. The order is supported by the sales of

Chartreuse liqueur Chartreuse (, , ) is a French herbal liqueur available in green and yellow versions that differ in taste and alcohol content. The liqueur has been made by the Carthusian monks since 1737 according to the instructions set out in a manuscript ...

which has been popular in France and later around the world since the early 18th century. In 2015, the order sold 1.5 million bottles of Chartreuse (50 euros a bottle), and all the proceedings went into financing the order and its charity projects.

In literature

The Italian canon Antonio de Beatis described the former monastery in his 1517-1518 travel journal; he wrote that the original monastery was destroyed in an avalanche long before, killing many of the monks. English poet

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, lit ...

wrote one of his finest poems, "Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse", while briefly staying at the monastery around 1850."Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse"
/ref> The quiet, serenity, and monastic calm became, for him, the susurrations of a dying world which contrasted with what he saw as the violent emerging age of machinery. Grand Chartreuse was also described by

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

in his 1792 ''Descriptive Sketches'' (lines 53-73), and in the 1850 revision of '' The Prelude, Book VI'' (lines 416-18), (Wordsworth visited the monastery in 1790, but he describes the 1792 expulsion of the monks by French forces); and John Ruskin's ''Praeterita''.

References

Videography

* ''

Into Great Silence ''Into Great Silence'' (german: Die große Stille) is a 2005 documentary film directed by Philip Gröning. An international co-production between France, Switzerland and Germany, it is an intimate portrayal of the everyday lives of Carthusian mon ...

'', a documentary directed by

Philip Gröning Philip Gröning (born 7 April 1959 in Düsseldorf) is a German director, documentary film maker and screenwriter. Career Gröning was raised in Germany and US, but also traveled extensively. He studied Medicine and Psychology before beginning in ...

(2005)

External links