Charterhouse of La Valsainte

Charterhouse of La Valsainte

The La Valsainte Charterhouse is the only existing Charterhouse in Switzerland . It is located near Cerniat , in the municipality of Val-de-Charmey in the canton of Friborg . There are ten fathers and seven lay brothers living in La Valsainte. Like all Carthusian monasteries, the monastery cannot be visited.

history

Aerial photograph by Walter Mittelholzer (1925)

The La Valsainte Charterhouse was founded in 1295 by Girard I and Girard II of Corbières. The Charterhouse received numerous donations from the donors and came under Savoyard rule at the end of the 14th century . From 1454 the monastery belonged to the county of Gruyères and was awarded to Freiburg when it was divided up in 1553 . In 1778 La Valsainte was abolished with the Pope's approval . The goods of the monastery went to the diocese of Lausanne . The monks settled after the lifting in the Charterhouse La Part-Dieu in Bulle over.

From 1791 to 1798 the convent of was Trappist inhabited, because of the French Revolution in France fled. Redemptorists lived in La Valsainte from 1818 to 1824 . The monastery was then sold and destroyed except for the facade from 1729. In 1861 the Carthusians of La Part-Dieu bought the monastery back and rebuilt the monastery.

The collapse of parts of the monastery wall in 2000 drew attention to the difficult subsurface conditions, which required thorough renovation. Some of the cells on the south side, which had not been used for years - they had only been built in the early 20th century - were demolished. The subsoil was rehabilitated and the monastery brought into a structural condition that ensures the continued existence of the monastery in its previous form. The measures were completed in September 2008.

literature

• Léon Savary , Victor Attinger : La chartreuse de la Valsainte. Neuchâtel 1932.

Web links

Commons : Chartreuse de La Valsainte  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• La Chartreuse de La Valsainte on the Carthusian Order's website
• Peter F. Kopp: La Valsainte. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Photos of a cell and a studio (1940-50)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chartreuse de La Valsainte. Accessed December 27, 2018 (data 2018). 
2. ↑ Entry to Charterhouse La Valsainte on Orden online

Coordinates: 46 ° 38 '57.4 "  N , 7 ° 11' 19.2"  E ; CH1903:  five hundred eighty thousand eight hundred and sixty-three  /  166480