Chartreuse Saint-Sauveur

About

This Carthusian monastery is set slightly apart from the city, on a slope once covered with vines. It is concealed and silent, just like the monks who once inhabited it. Funded by a bequest made by Vézian Valette, a wealthy Villefranche merchant, building work started in 1451, and was completed in 1459. During those eight years, four to five thousand stonecutters were working there at any given time, not to mention the local inhabitants! The work was overseen by two master-masons, Conrad Rogier and Jean Coupiac, and embellished by sculptors Pierre Viguié and André Sulpice. Hidden behind a rather forbidding exterior, the monastery itself is a feast of masterly 15th-century architecture. The small cloister is a marvel of Gothic art from the late 15th century, in sharp contrast to the large cloister, which is plain and severe, but nonetheless imposing. The chapel is lit by some beautiful stained-glass windows, and the choir stalls, carved by André Sulpice in a similar fashion to those of the Collegiate church, depict bizarre creatures and one or two bawdy scenes.

At a glance

• Typical visit: about 1 hour 30 minutes