The Monastic Carthusian Space

Abstract

The Carthusian monks spend their extraordinary existence in an atmosphere of great contemplative silence and total hiding, protected by an extremely rigid form of enclosure, so their monasteries are also called simply deserts. The Carthusian space constantly proposes a functional organization of the environments strictly dependent on the monks’ peculiar kind of life. This includes spaces reserved for fathers, spaces dedicated to the times of community life and, finally, spaces reserved for brothers. This is specified in the Statutes of their Order, although from time to time it has been harmoniously adapted in creative terms to the morphology of the different sites. Undoubtedly the Carthusian monasteries constitute a paradigmatic example of hidden geographies. They can however be discovered to some extent through an accurate reconnaissance of the precious testimonies—more or less well preserved and valorized from a cultural point of view—that these monks have left in the places where they have lived in the past. Such testimonies can also be found in the territories of the Alpine-Adriatic region, i.e., within the current borders of Slovenia and Austria.