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Fortified 16th century facade.
This medieval-looking facade – which had almost no openings until the French Revolution (the only openings were loop-holes in the form of the Carthusian Cross) – protected the monks and symbolised the solitude that they sought.
The main entrance was altered in the late 17th century and is in a Renaissance style.
It bears the Order’s insignia (a cross topped by seven stars on top of the globe) and the coats of arms of the Sainte Croix Carthusian monastery.
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Facade of the former Carthusian monastery of Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez. Present entrance to the village.
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The hanging gardens.
Each hermitage has a small garden in which the Carthusian father carried out manual activity by growing vegetables or medicinal plants.
Since the Sainte-Croix monastery was built on a rocky spur, gardens were provided at an intermediate height between the external level where two streams flow and the level inside the monastery.
When viewed from outside, the gardens appear to be "hanging" and placed against the monastery buildings.
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Hanging garden and ambulatory of the prior’s hermitage.
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Parish church of Sainte-Croix-en-Jarez |
The church, its stalls and their misericord seats, and its paintings.
After a fire in the 18th century which damaged the original 13th century church, the parish church was set up by the monastery in what was previously the chapter house and the refectory.
In particular, it has very fine gothic stalls from the late 15th century.
On the rear wall are two 17th century paintings (of Saint Charles Borromée and Saint Bruno, founder of the Carthusian Order) and also a 20th century painting depicting the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian – a copy of the famous distemper painting by Andrea Mantegna around 1480 in Mantua, which is preserved in the Louvre Museum.
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Early 14th century mural paintings.
These four works are funeral paintings in honour of Thibaud de Vassalieu, a major donor of the Sainte-Croix Carthusian monastery. They date from the first half of the 14th century and are particulaly well preserved. Shortly after their creation, they were covered by a coating because the General Chapter of the Carthusian Order had asked that decorative items of luxurious appearance should be removed from Carthusian churches.
They were rediscovered in the late 19th century at the same time as the graves of Thibaud de Vassalieu and Béatrix de la Tour du Pin, the wife of Guillaume de Roussillon.
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14th century mural painting in the original church, depicting the crucifixion. |
Renaissance-style fireplace in the kitchen.
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The kitchen and its monumental fireplace.
This is a large room with groin vaults, as in the former bakery and the hostellerie quarters for lay guests. The Renaissance-style fireplace is remarkably large. It occupies an entire wall and is more than eight metres long. In addition to the main hearth where the contents of large cauldrons were cooked, it had "potager" stoves on both sides, which were used for finishing cooking and for keeping dishes warm.
The Carthusian monks’ food consisted of vegetables, cereals, chestnuts, fruit and fish, but no meat. Meals were cooked by the brothers and carried in a wooden basket to the hermitages, where they were passed to the fathers through a wicket hatch.
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A restored and reconstructed hermitage.
The Carthusian fathers are hermits. They live in cells where they divide their time between prayer, work and rest. A hermitage consists of an entrance, called the Ave Maria (where the father made his devotions to the Blessed Virgin), the cubiculum (the only heated room) or living room, where the father had his bed, a storage unit and his oratoire (a stall and a prie-dieu kneeling chair), a desk and escritoire, a large ambulatory, a workshop and a garden.
A father’s courtyard was surrounded by a cloister which provided access to fourteen virtually identical hermitages.
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 Monk’s cupboard bed and stall in his cell..
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The cross in the centre of the small cloister
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The small cloister.
Located in the centre of the monastery, it was connected directly to the church, the refectory and the chapter house.
The wrought iron cross (a replica of the original, which was taken away during the French Revolution) evokes the Carthusian motto: "Stat crux dum volvitur orbis" (The world turns round, but the cross remains), which is a reminder of the superiority of the spiritual over the temporal.
The small cloister was restored in 2006 and opened to the public in 2007.
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