Molsheim Charterhouse

The monastery is located in the north-western part of the historic city centre of Molsheim, between the Rue des Étudiants to the south, the Rue de la Chartreuse to the north, the Place du Marché to the east and the local hospital to the west. The town of Molsheim is itself located in Alsace, on the foothills of the Vosges, at the end of the Bruche Valley and on the left bank of the latter. == Background ==

Establishment Koenigshoffen Charterhouse , on which the "old chartreuse" of Koenigshoffen is visible in the centre of the map, between the Bruche and the Bruche canal. The Carthusian monastery located in Koenigshoffen - today a suburb of Strasbourg - and known as "Mont-Sainte-Marie" ("Marienbühl") was founded in 1335 on the banks of the Bruche by three monks, on land donated by Berthold II of Bucheck, bishop of Strasbourg. The monastery was spiritually fruitful and had 18 cells, and sent monks to support the charterhouses in Hildesheim and Basel. In 1418, the monastery had 16 fathers and 12 brothers; a century later, in 1521, there were still 15 fathers, nine lay people and four brothers. However, the introduction of the Reformation in Strasbourg three years later led to the departure of half of the 28 members of the community. When the Peasants' War broke out in 1525, the charterhouse thought it could avoid being pillaged by placing itself under the protection of the town, which had then turned to Protestantism. In return, the Council of the XV first demanded that the Carthusian patrimony be managed by laymen, then forbade the holding of liturgical services, and finally the entry of novices, which condemned the community in the medium term. The head office of the Grande Chartreuse therefore envisaged the transfer of the community, but nothing was done at first. The community bought the house known as "Böcklerhof" from Barbe de Schauenbourg, widow of a Böcklin von Böcklinsau, for 5,000 florins; at the same time, on August 21, 1598, a treaty was signed between Henri IV and the Carthusian monks, the latter obtaining compensation of 7,500 livres tournois per annum for their losses in Strasbourg. At the same time, the city of Strasbourg finally agreed to make compensation; the prior and the magistrate of Molsheim were welcomed to Strasbourg by the Magistrate, who proposed an exchange to the monks: the land and property confiscated by the Protestant municipality were to be kept by the latter, but title deeds in 47 Catholic localities were to be granted in exchange. In addition, the keys to the room where the books and liturgical ornaments seized in Koenigshoffen were kept were to be given to them. Henri Topffer, prior from 1602 to 1612, celebrated the first mass in the conventual church on March 25, 1610; however, the building was not officially dedicated until August 3, 1614, with a dedication to the Trinity, Mary, John the Baptist and all the saints. Numerous donations enabled the monastery to grow rapidly. The construction of the cloister was started in 1614. In 1619, three more monks arrived from the Carthusian monasteries in Mainz and Trier. In 1620, the first monk of Molsheim made his vows. The Carthusian monastery was canonically recognised in statu perfecto in 1662. Life of the Carthusian monastery Community growth Between 1623 and 1626, several additional monks joined the community, which also grew by five novices, including the first inhabitant of Molsheim, Jean-Jacques Fourmann. The Thirty Years' War showed the relevance of the establishment in a Catholic town. The Carthusian monks were not worried by the devastation caused by the fighting and looting. As a security measure, the archives and various precious goods were nevertheless sheltered in Benfeld and then in the Vosges until 1641. Louis Pergener was prior from 1651 to 1660 and greatly expanded the monastery, acquiring the "Berggasse" and several adjoining plots of land to integrate them into the premises. His successor, Martin Malburg, led the monastery until 1665; he was the first prior to be elected canonically by the monks and not appointed by the province. In the spring of 1683, the town of Molsheim, including the Charterhouse, was visited by Louis XIV and his wife Maria Theresa. Accompanied by a few princesses from her retinue, she received exceptional permission to enter the church, the cloister and even some of the monastic cells. Since Carthusian customs forbid women from entering a male monastery, these privileged few remained unique in the history of the Molsheim community. Priors of the Charterhouse During the priorate of Conrad Odendal, the prior's house was built, which was later mistakenly called "Carthusian Priory". On 7 November 1684, the altar in the chapel of this building was consecrated in honour of the Trinity and the Holy Family. Shortly afterwards, in 1698, the original "Böcklerhof" building was demolished to create a large courtyard in front of the new house, known as the "Carthusian Courtyard" or "''Cour d'Honneur''", surrounded to the west by the temporal buildings and to the east by the church and the prior's house. Legacy of the monastery The first estates of the charterhouse consisted of properties given to it in compensation by the city of Strasbourg in 47 Catholic towns and villages: these properties were spread out from Sélestat to Wissembourg, i.e. over the area of the present-day Lower Rhine. In addition to these initial properties, there were numerous donations from nobles, burghers and clergymen. This property was in constant evolution due to exchanges and rearrangements. Although the state of the properties was never fixed, an estimate in the middle of the 18th century shows that Molsheim Charterhouse owned land in nearly 100 places: in the vineyards of the Vosges foothills (from Dambach-la-Ville to Marlenheim), in the wet lowlands of the Ried, between Benfeld and Erstein, in the cereal-growing lands of the Kochersberg, mainly north of Truchtersheim, around the Haguenau forest, mainly in Soufflenheim, Bischwiller and Betschdorf, and finally in Outre-Forêt, near Niederbronn. A few rare possessions were located in distant Rhine regions, in Trier, Mainz, Baden and Durlach. These possessions were mainly located (42% at the time) in lands under the sovereignty of the archbishop of Strasbourg, mainly those around Dachstein, Benfeld, Schirmeck and in the Kochersberg. 11% were located in lands under the seigniory of Choiseul-Stainville, mainly near Haguenau; another 11% were attached to the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg, which was then under the control of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt; another 11% belonged to various nobles of Lower Alsace. The remaining quarter was under the authority of the free imperial city of Strasbourg, or the cities of the Décapole, or abbeys or chapters in the region. Approximately three quarters were located in Catholic localities, but almost a quarter in Protestant areas; this was obviously not the case at the time of the 1598 exchange. These properties in Protestant lands were mainly those located in the Outre-Forêt, in Barr, Berstett, Wasselonne and Oberbronn. File:Moulin des Chartreux à Dorlisheim.jpg|alt=Old map showing a place called "Moulin de la Chartreuse" along the road to Dorlisheim.|Map of the moulin des chartreux ("mill of the Carthusians") in Dorlisheim at the end of the 18th century, on the site of the future Bugatti factory. Map of the Chartreux mill in Dorlisheim at the end of the 18th century, on the site of the future Bugatti factory. File:Possessions Chartreuse de Molsheim à Mutzig.jpg|alt=Old map showing two plots of land called Prata Cartuliæ near the town of Mutiga.|Possessions of Molsheim Charterhouse on the territory of Mutzig in 1702 File:Finkenberg - Chartreuse de Molsheim.jpg|alt=Old cadastral map showing owners and vineyard areas.|Map of the possessions of Molsheim Charterhouse in the Finkenberg (districts of Avolsheim and Molsheim) in 1702. File:Borne Chartreuse de Molsheim à Boersch.jpg|alt=Photograph of a raised stone marked with a capital K in the middle of a forest.|Boundary marker for the property of Molsheim Charterhouse ("Kartause" in German) in the Boersch forest, at a place called Gemsberg. File:Borne du ban d'Avolsheim-Chartreuse de Molsheim.jpg|alt=Raised stone on a black background, marked with a partially hammered crowned wheel.|Boundary marker of the Avolsheim ban, where the Finkenhof farm and the Carthusian monks' vineyard were located. Carthusian handicrafts In the 18th century, the Carthusians of Molsheim were known in the region for the production of their medicinal "balls". The exact composition is now lost, but at least some elements are still known. The balls included at least potassium bitartrate, iron, frankincense, myrrh and resin mastic. These substances were crushed in a mortar and mixed to form a paste that had to be pressed into a mould. The resulting balls weighed from "one to one and a half ounces" (i.e. thirty to fifty grams). Finally, they were dried and brushed with a solution of gum and a few drops of walnut dye to make them black and shiny. The balls were reputed to be effective against chlorosis (hypochromic anaemia), rickets, leucorrhoea (non-bloody vaginal discharge), and more generally against anaemia and asthenia. The medication was extremely simple to use: the ball was to be soaked in water until it became amber in colour, when the solution was to be drunk. After use, the ball was simply put to dry in the air or in the shade. The balls were also used as a compress to treat bruises, wounds and strains. The library and the books of the Charterhouse The library of the charterhouse at Koenigshoffen was particularly rich in manuscripts, which the city of Strasbourg acquired in 1591. Jean Pappus made an incomplete list of 265 volumes, 342 manuscripts and 83 printed documents. Of these books, the Carthusian monks tried to reclaim in 1596 the "choir books" (used for the liturgy) as well as copies of works from the library. In 1600, their request was partially granted and the 83 printed books were returned, forming the basis of the future Molsheim Charterhouse library. The library was initially located in the "Böcklerhof" in the main courtyard. As the latter building was demolished, the library was transferred at an unknown date, but after 1744, to the former T cell, which was raised by one floor to accommodate the entire collection. The top floor of this building was then connected to a "gallery", probably a mezzanine, which facilitated access to the works. As cell T was located on the right of the passage joining the church to the southern cloister, the library extended over the latter passage. During the French Revolution, the inventory carried out on July 13, 1790, shows that the monastic library contained 4,133 works, 486 manuscripts and 184 sets of archives, the library having suffered neither from the Thirty Years' War nor from other depredations; the records of the monastery do not, however, allow for a detailed analysis of the acquisition policy. On the other hand, until 1688, the monastery had its books bound externally. From the latter date onwards, the monks themselves carried out the binding, which explains the purchase of hides and skins. The works in the library bear a mark of ownership: either a handwritten inscription on the title page or a marking on the binding, with a call number. The call number indicated a capital letter which specified the theme, then a column number and a row number. Miraculously, it was spared from the fire that struck Mont Sainte-Odile in 1546; Erasmus of Strasbourg then had it transferred to Saverne in 1609. At an unknown date, it was transferred to the charterhouse in Molsheim, but the reasons, circumstances and conditions of this transfer are not known. The Carthusian monks made a copy of it between 1693 and 1695, but kept it secret from scholars, visiting monks and still more from visitors. On the night of November 23, 1791, an obviously deliberate fire affected the roofs of the church, the library and eight cells. The monastery's critics accused the monks of having caused the fire and had an initial shipment of eight boxes of books and stained glass taken to Strasbourg. On March 21 of the following year, the monks threw in the towel and renounced common life. On May 1, 1792, the charterhouse was suppressed, the monks dispersed and returned for the most part to their home towns. The buildings were declared national property and used as a prison for political prisoners in 1794. On June 15, 1793 (27 Prairial, Year I), "five altars, two iron fences, 96 pieces of mirror glass in the choir, the prie Dieu stalls and other woodwork" were sold and dispersed, along with the exotic trees in the orangery. Two of the rococo altars from 1769 met the same fate, while the other two were moved to the church of Saint-Antoine in Bernardvillé. The reliquaries were completely stripped of their precious metal covers. The two altars in the sacristy were moved to the church of Saint-Maurice in Bitschhoffen, where they disappeared during the Second World War. On July 14, 1796 (26 Messidor year IV), the buildings were estimated at 50,400 livres, but already in a state of "considerable disrepair", to the point of having lost a third of their value. The Molsheim miller Jean Geoffroy Augst, the collector Alexis Foccart, the Strasbourg merchant Louis Quinon and the notary André Bremsinger signed the deed of sale of the charterhouse on the 18th of the same month. On 5 Fructidor (22 August), the notary transferred his quarter to Augst. At the end of this exchange, Quinon owned the western part: the recipe, stables, and most of the garden. Foccart owned the centre: guest house, greenhouse and the rest of the garden. Finally, Augst acquired the eastern part, including the church, the cells, the prior's house and the kitchen wing. The church was very quickly used as a stone quarry, and the cells were sold as individual houses to private individuals from year VI to year VIII (1798-1800). The future of the former monastery At the beginning of the 19th century, the two cells I and S were ruined. On December 21, 1807, Augst sold the old kitchens to Léonard Rubé, a café owner, for 5,472 francs. In the three months that followed, the entrance gallery to the church, known as the atrium, the brothers' cloister and the fathers' refectory were demolished. In 1809, the prior's house, the probable residence of Jean Geoffroy Augst, was cleared and the Rue de la Chartreuse was opened in place of the old conventual buildings. On January 8, 1830, Alexis Foccart acquired Louis Quinon's share, which he sold eight years later to the Muckensturm couple. On October 1, 1842, the property was acquired by the town of Molsheim, which turned it into a hospice (which became a local hospital). Alexis Foccart's brother, Louis Éloi (1772-1855), housed his large family (six children) in the former guesthouse. Claudine Foccart, a descendant of Louis Éloi, used "a large bundle of scrolls dating from the 14th to the 18th century, left over from the Carthusian archives [as] an apron or to cover jam jars". The Foccarts sold their property at auction in 1853. The building opposite was bought by the widow Jenner on August 21, 1867, to house the beneficiaries of her foundation, i.e. destitute widows. File:Chartreuse de Molsheim - Aile cuisine.jpg|alt=Sepia photograph of a townhouse.|The kitchen wing at the beginning of the 20th century. File:Musée de la Chartreuse de Molsheim 1934.jpg|alt=Black and white photograph of a classical building preceded by a walled garden.|The prior's house, then owned by the Gerlinger family, in 1934. File:Cloître chartreuse Molsheim 1972.jpg|alt=Photographie en noir et blanc de voûtes d'un couloir.|The cloister vaults, north side, in 1972. Rehabilitation and ranking In 1980, the town of Molsheim began to take an interest in the heritage represented by the charterhouse. By a vote of the town council on December 12 of that year, a first purchase was decided upon, with the acquisition of the Gerlinger house, i.e. the former prior's house, which, with its outbuildings, makes up a total of 2,779 square metres of land. This was followed by 15 more purchases between 1981 and 2009, with the total of 16 purchases bringing together 7,097 square metres. From 1987, the Molsheim sculptor Raymond Keller launched a rehabilitation programme carried out by volunteers. 48 people worked on the site, devoting an estimated total of 75,000 hours of work. The result of this work was the rehabilitation of six cells, three gardens, and the north and south wings of the cloister. In 2005, the international congress of the Analecta Cartusiana took place here. == Architecture ==

From the time of the monks Between 1598 and 1792, the charterhouse occupied an area of eleven arpents and 742 square feet, i.e., with a foot of 29.3 centimetres and an arpent of 24,000 square feet, an area of approximately 22,700 square metres in modern measurements. It thus occupied about 8% of the urban space of Molsheim. The monastery was divided into two parts. The part to the south-west, where the modern local hospital is located, contained the temporal buildings and spaces: farm, reception building and guesthouse. To the north-east was the church, surrounded by the two cloisters of the fathers and brothers, themselves surrounded by the monks' cells. Around the present "Cour des Chartreux", on the east and south sides, were grouped the places of collective life: church, library, refectory, kitchen. The community aspect remained relative, however, as the fathers and brothers had different access to it. The church The layout of the church in the heart of the courtyard is quite unusual and contrasts with the general Carthusian practice of "large cloister" (fathers) and "small cloister" (brothers). A Carthusian church is generally a relatively sober building of limited dimensions. The church in Molsheim was an exception to this rule. About thirty-five metres long and eight metres wide, it was also richly decorated, the initial ornamentation being constantly completed and enriched until the Revolution. On September 2, 1606, Adam Peetz, auxiliary bishop of Strasbourg during the lay administration of Leopold V of Austria-Tyrol, laid the foundation stone on the site of the main altar. The construction of a church in this location required a great deal of consolidation of the soil, as a wooden foundation was necessary. The abbot of Altorf donated the trees needed for this consolidation, "as many as necessary". The cross that adorned the graveyard on the eastern side was erected on September 26, 1626; it came from Koenigshoffen. For a long time it was thought to be the work of a lay brother, but the hypothesis now generally accepted is that of a talented Strasbourg sculptor. The cross, carved from a block of pink Vosges sandstone weighing almost twenty tonnes, four and a half metres high and two and a half metres wide, is dated to around 1480, according to Walter Hotz, who likens it to the Baden-Baden crucifix carved by Nicolas Gerhaert of Leiden. The upper arm of the cross bears the inscription INRI in Latin, Greek and Hebrew in a classical manner. The fathers' cloister The cloister itself was built from 1614, and completed before 1626; the northern wing is the oldest. Unlike an abbey cloister, although it also forms an elongated rectangle, the north and south wings extend beyond the east and west galleries to serve all the fathers' cells. This arrangement is not common to Carthusian monasteries, but is specific to Molsheim. Thus, the north wing of the cloister was thirty-four bays long, i.e. one hundred and nine metres; the south wing, which was shorter on the western side and was limited by the prior's dwelling, was only twenty-nine bays long, i.e. a little over 90 metres. The shorter east and west wings were only ten bays long, or about thirty-two metres. Finally, the two galleries leading to the fathers' choir were three bays long. The floor of the galleries is covered with quadrangular Vosges sandstone slabs. On the courtyard side, the cloister walls are pierced with twinned bays and access doors to the cemetery, all of which are enclosed in low arches. On the other hand, along the extensions of the gallery beyond the courtyard, lighting is only provided by oculi in the upper part of the walls. The twinned bays contained 115 or 116 very famous stained glass windows. Moreover, the cloister was a very colourful space, with yellow ochre plaster covering the walls, highlighting the window frames with a lighter yellow, the window arches in grey, the brackets in red, their pattern in yellow, and the vault ribs in blue. File:Cloître Chartreuse de Molsheim 2010 - Vue générale.jpg|alt=Photograph of an empty courtyard surrounded by a cloister.|The cloister of the charterhouse in 2010. File:Galerie est Chartreuse de Molsheim.jpg|alt=Vaulted gallery in Gothic style.|The eastern gallery of the cloister. File:Cloître sud Molsheim - vue depuis l'Est.jpg|alt=Galerie voûté de style gothique, éclairée pour partie par des oculi et pour partie par des arcades.|The southern gallery of the cloister seen from the east, with its two styles of openings. File:Console aile sud Chartreuse Molsheim.jpg|alt=Bracket detached from a wall and bearing an ogival start.|Example of a console visible in the southern cloister. The stained glass windows of the cloister The stained glass windows were by far the most important decorative element of the cloister, which is corroborated by several accounts. Jean-Gaspard Bernegger mentions them as early as 1675, fearing the damage that the Dutch war and its spillover into Alsace could do to these works. In 1696, Antoine Ruinart raved about the stained glass windows "painted with such delicacy and finish that nothing more perfect in this genre could be imagined". Jean André Silbermann, a young organ builder, visiting Molsheim while his father André was installing the organ in the Altorf Abbey church, "could not get enough of admiring the beautiful windows painted in the Carthusian monastery". The Benedictine monk Philippe-André Grandidier admired "the beautiful and fresh glass paintings with which the cloister is decorated all around the cells". Finally, in 1771, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who only mentioned this one monument on his trip to Alsace, briefly recalled that "in the cloister of the abbey [sic] of Molsheim, we admired the stained glass windows painted in colour". The revolutionaries, despite their desire to destroy it, were not indifferent to the quality of the stained glass. Joseph Klein suggested placing an advertisement in The London Gazette, stating that "English connoisseurs" had estimated the entire collection at one hundred thousand pounds. As in all the Carthusian monasteries, cells A and B are traditionally reserved for the prior and the vicar; in addition, in Molsheim, cell E was that of the sub-sacristan. The cells are marked on the map and are indicated in black capital letters above each cell door. In 2017, the letters D, E, F, M, P and T visible above the doors are the original ones. Some cells, such as E, have just a lettering. Others, M and P for example, show two successive states of lettering. The doorposts to the cells are sometimes decorated with plant motifs, as in the case of doors D and E. The two doors of cells E and G have also retained their old cold-hammered fittings. Each door is also juxtaposed with a pass-through, known as a "guichet", which allows the Carthusian father to receive his food without human contact. The doorposts to the cells are sometimes decorated with plant patterns, as in the case of doors D and E. The two doors of cells E and G have also retained their old cold-hammered fittings. Each door is also juxtaposed with a pass-through, known as a " counter ", which allows the Carthusian father to receive his food without human contact. Two cell plans coexisted at Molsheim: the first can be found in cell E (see below), but also D, F or G. The main feature of this plan is the presence of a corridor about one metre wide separating the living areas from the cloister. This corridor ends at one end with the door to the small garden and at the other with the staircase to the cell's attic. The other, simplified plan is, for example, reproduced in cells K, L, M, P or Q (below, cell L): the long corridor serving as an airlock is absent, and the cell's entrance door leads directly into the large room, as does the staircase to the attic. In most Carthusian monasteries, the monk's life is divided into two parts: manual work downstairs in the garden and prayer, study and living upstairs. In Molsheim, this arrangement was not implemented and manual work was located in the workshop. Hospitality The construction of the guesthouse was planned to replace the "Böcklerhof", the destruction of which began on October 21, 1698. The provincial visitors and the General of the Order approved the project. The meeting between Prior Philippe Zell and the Italian architect Giovan Betto, who was working on Bosserville Charterhouse, was decisive, but the monks initially preferred a project that allowed the reuse of the old foundations, whereas Betto proposed a building further away, whose setback would enhance the façade of the church. The extra cost of this project was compensated for by the lower height. The second garden, situated to the north of the fathers' cells, i.e. to the east of the monastery, was more particularly devoted to prayer and was decorated with a large Mount of Olives. This monument, similar to a Calvary but representing another episode of the Passion of Christ, was much used for moments of silent prayer. The proximity of the urban area, and in particular the eastern gate of the charterhouse, just north of the tithe barn (Dîme de Molsheim), meant that the monks were often disturbed in their devotions by the cries of children. After the monks The main change in the spatial layout concerns the destruction of the buildings. In particular, the monastic church was levelled down to its foundations. The latter, uncovered by the 1983 excavations, were restored to the space of the former courtyard. Since 1985, the Molsheim Historical Museum, previously located in the Metzig, has moved to the charterhouse, more precisely to the "priory", i.e. the residence of the prior between 1684 and 1792. In 1986, the Bugatti Foundation set up a memorial hall in the former kitchen wing, dedicated to the Bugatti family and the Bugatti automobile brand. Since 1991, the same wing has housed the city's media library, even further west. File:Chartreuse de Molsheim 1985.jpg|alt=Colour photograph of an excavated courtyard surrounded by a cloister, of which all the bays have disappeared.|The cloister in 1985, showing the foundations of the conventual church. File:Muséechartreuse1.jpg|alt=Colour photograph of a classical stone building with a pediment.|The prior's house, now the Musée de la Chartreuse. File:Aile de la recette - Chartreuse de Molsheim.jpg|alt=Colour photograph of a building with a Biberschwanz roof and pink plaster.|The former reception wing, converted into a hospital. File:Fondation Bugatti.jpg|alt=Photograph of a vaulted room containing two top-of-the-range cars from the inter-war period.|The Bugatti Foundation in the former kitchen wing. Similarly, since 2006, the Arts et Cloître association has been offering workshops and lectures. Finally, since 1987, the association Les Vendredis de la Chartreuse has offered concerts and shows. All the "secular" buildings of the monastery are owned by the local hospital, which has converted them for its own needs. The general plan and the external aspect have been respected. On the other hand, heavy work undertaken in 1987 concreted the staircase of the guest wing up to the roofs, notwithstanding the protection of the Historic Monuments, which eliminated the wrought iron banister. The eastern cellar was converted into a chapel. To the west of the reception building was still the farm. The monastery records of 1702 list eight horses, seventeen cows, four oxen, six pigs and 90 poultry. The representation of 1744 confirms the agricultural purpose of the western part. At the other end of the monastery, completely to the east, the Carthusian monastery had a "back cellar" located in the extension of the Dîme, and comprising three levels, plus the two attic levels, above vaulted cellars of three aisles of three bays. == Notes and references ==