Some visitors to Provence don’t need to chase a tan at
the seaside, instead they like to check out the lesser known areas, explore the
historical and cultural sites inland.
These guests I take to La Chartreuse de la Verne, a
Carthusian monastery tucked away in the Massif des Maures, one of the oldest
and wildest sets of hills of the Var department. There’s no train to Collobrières,
the nearest town and busses are very infrequent so the best way to get there is
by car; cycling, I leave to the very fit.
La Chartreuse de la Verne, 11 km from Collobrières is
perched on a rocky headland completely isolated in amongst a thick hilly forest
of pine, oak, cork and chestnut trees. The set of buildings mostly rebuilt during
the 17th and 18th centuries are 155 m long, 85 m. wide with
walls 425 m high was constructed in 1174 on the site of a pagan temple. This monastery
had a turbulent past - plundered in 1174, wrecked by the Protestants during the
religious wars and occupied by the Huguenots in 1577. After each of these
destructions, the dedicated picked up the pieces and rebuilt. In 1790, after
the French Revolution, the contents were sequestered and the monks had to
abandon the monastery.
Looking around today at this imposing structure, and
the beauty of the forest, it’s hard to imagine that there were at least three
serious fires here -- one in the 13th century and the others n 1318
and 1721.
La Chartreuse was
listed as a historic monument in 1921 and today about 30 sisters of the monastic
order of Bethlehem live there.
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