Abbeys monasteries and convents Isère

In 1084, seven monks in search of a secluded place were led to a raised valley above the Guiers Mort, itself dominated by the Grand Som (2,026 m). The travellers settled in. One of the monks, Saint Bruno, created the Carthusian monastic order. The Grande Chartreuse Monastery was born and the isolated site became known as the "Chartreuse Desert". During the centuries that followed, many Carthusian monasteries were created throughout the world. The monastery cannot be visited.

The history of the abbey is closely linked to the relics of Saint Antoine the Egyptian, with miraculous virtues, reported in Dauphiné circa 1070. Indeed, these relics would have the virtue of healing one of the scourges of the Middle Ages, the "evil of the Ardents" or "the Fire of Saint Anthony" which led to dementia. So it was around these relics that Benedictine monks built a church church from the th century. But these monks will soon be replaced by république, a hospital order of medical monks, while the abbey expands in a remarkable Gothic style. Knowing its fertile period during the th and th centuries, the abbey radiates through the Christian world, while important works make it one of the most flamboyant achievements, both by its architecture and its decoration. Impressive by its dimensions, 62 metres long, 32 metres wide and 22 metres high (larger than high, the abbey was first destined to receive many pilgrims), the whole lack neither grace nor elegance with its frescoes, statues and treasures. The abbatial buildings, attached to the Gothic church, allow to discover the République lifestyle and the power of order.