Grande Chartreuse

Grande Chartreuse is in Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France and is the mother monastery of the Carthusian Order, founded by St. Bruno and six companions in 1084 in the Chartreuse mountains.. In June 1084 Bruno of Cologne and six companions were led by Bishop Hugh of Grenoble into the secluded Chartreuse valley to establish a hermitage.

Their form of contemplative life became the basis of the Carthusian Order. The community endured relocations, rebuilding and periods of expulsion but returned to the mother house, which remains the central monastery of the order. Religious life or devotional practice associated with the site includes Carthusian contemplative monastic prayer.

The cloistered monastery is not open to ordinary tourist visits; visitors use designated external viewpoints and the nearby museum rather than entering the monastic enclosure. Grande Chartreuse is not a conventional visitor attraction. The enclosure remains reserved to the Carthusian community, reflecting the order’s emphasis on solitude and contemplation; public interpretation is provided outside the monastery rather than through routine access to the cloistered buildings.