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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Chartreuse de Mélan, founded in 1282 by Béatrice de Faucigny, is a female cartreux monastery located in Taninges, Haute-Savoie. It was built to accommodate the remains of his son, John I, heir to the Viennese, who died accidentally. The foundation document was signed in 1285, and the first nuns settled there in 1288. The church, consecrated in 1290, is designed to house forty nuns and seven priests, although their number had never exceeded forty. The monastery, with lands and buildings, was confirmed by Emperor Rodolphe I in 1292.

In the Middle Ages, despite significant donations, the Chartreuse remained modest, with limited resources. In 1430 Amédée VIII de Savoie financed a chapel. In the 16th century, a fire damaged the site, resulting in the reconstruction of the cloister in a flamboyant Gothic style. Under the impulse of Dom Innocent The Masson in the 17th century, the monastery was renovated. The French Revolution marked a turning point: in 1793 the nuns were expelled, and the site, sold as national property, was vandalized.

In the 19th century, Father Marin Ducrey founded a college there in 1803, transformed into a small seminary in 1809, then entrusted to the Jesuits in 1833. In 1906, the department of Haute-Savoie made it an orphanage, partially destroyed by a fire in 1967. Today, the Chartreuse houses a departmental cultural pole and preserves its 13th century church, its 16th century Gothic cloister, as well as medieval remains. Ranked a historic monument since 1911, it bears witness to eight centuries of religious and social history in Faucigny.

Future

The former Chartereuse, located in the commune of Taninges, was transformed into a small seminary, then an orphanage and today hosts a departmental cultural pole.

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