Monastère de la Grande Chartreuse

Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse

It all begins with a vision: in 1084, the bishop of Grenoble, Hugh, sees in a dream seven stars settling over an isolated valley of the Chartreuse massif. Shortly after, Bruno, a former teacher from Cologne, comes to him with six companions seeking solitude — the bishop takes it as a sign and leads them himself to this site, the cradle of the Carthusian order. The original monastery was destroyed by an avalanche in 1132, which killed seven monks. Still closed to the public today and protected by a historic and natural site status that forbids any overflight, it is home to thirty-five monks living in individual cells, in a silence so absolute that it took the director of the documentary Into Great Silence (2005) sixteen years of negotiation to gain access. The famous liqueur that bears its name, made from 130 plants according to a secret recipe, remains their main source of income.

Getting there : Closed to the public, visible only from outside

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound