Chartreuse de Villeneuve lez Avignon

Welcome to the Chartreuse Notre-Dame-du-Val-de-Bénédiction, one of the most significant and expansive monastic complexes in the Western world. We are standing in a place that was once the pinnacle of Carthusian life in France. …

The spiritual center of the Chartreuse is its grand church, a structure that reflects both the wealth of its papal founder and the austerity of the Carthusian order. As you enter, the sheer volume of the space is striking, even…

Emerging from the church, we find ourselves in the Great Cloister, the largest of the monastery’s three cloisters and the true heart of the Carthusian life. This massive square is surrounded by a covered walkway with elegant…

To understand the Carthusian order, one must step inside a monk’s cell. At the Chartreuse of Villeneuve, these were not the tiny, cramped rooms one might expect. …

The Refectory was the communal dining hall where the monks would gather on Sundays and feast days, the only times they ate together. Unlike most communal meals, these were held in total silence, while one monk would read from a…

The second of the monastery’s cloisters is known as the Cloister of the Cemetery. As the name suggests, this was the final resting place for the monks. …

Water is a central theme at the Chartreuse, and nowhere is this more evident than at the Laundry Fountain and in the sprawling gardens. The monastery was a marvel of hydraulic engineering, with a sophisticated system of canals…

As we conclude our tour of the Chartreuse de Villeneuve, we step back from the world of the 'Great Silence' and into the vibrant life of the 21st century. We have walked through the cloisters of solitude, peered into the private…