The charterhouse
Domus Vallis Sanctae Elisabeth, dedicated to Saint
Elizabeth of Hungary (by her marriage Landgravine of Thuringia), was established in Eisenach in 1378 with the support of Landgraves
Frederick III and
Balthasar and of
William I, Margrave of Meissen. The first monks arrived in the years from 1378 to 1383 from
Erfurt Charterhouse. The monastic premises were sited just outside the town of Eisenach, in front of the
Frauentor ("women's gate") to the south of the town. In 1382 the Carthusian Chapter General officially accepted the new foundation into the
order. His successor Heinrich Nemritz (prior 1457−1474), served from 1477 to 1482 as General Visitor of the Lower German province of the Carthusian Order. The
Reformation divided the monks. In the early 1520s some had already become adherents of the teachings of
Martin Luther.
Dissolution and later use In the
"Eisenacher Pfaffensturm" ("Eisenach Priest Storm") on 24 April 1525, the buildings were looted and badly damaged. The monks and nuns from all monastic houses in Eisenach were driven from the town. The charterhouse was dissolved and its premises were confiscated by the Elector
John. The Elector
John Frederick I had the secularised monastery repaired by 1537 and used it as a country house. During the
Thirty Years' War it was looted. In 1694 Duke
John George II of Saxe-Eisenach established an orphanage and a textile mill in the buildings. The garden was used as a ducal kitchen garden. Between 1717 and 1721 a new prison and orphanage (
Zucht- und Waisenhaus) was set up alongside a cloth manufactory. After the orphanage was closed in 1819, the buildings were used as a house of correction. Around 1790 the court gardener
Johann Georg Sckell successfully transformed the former ducal kitchen garden into a landscape garden, which was given its present form as the
Charterhouse Garden from 1845 by
Hermann Jäger (1815−1890). == Buildings ==