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Origin and history

The church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine des Chartreux, located in Edmond-Audran Square in the 4th arrondissement of Marseille, was initially the chapel of a monastery of the Order of Chartreux, founded in 1633. This monastery, established at the initiative of the Chartreux de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon and with the support of the local authorities, including the first consul of Marseilles and the bishop of Loménie, was established in a quiet place near the brook of Jarret. The first stone was laid on 8 September 1633 by Marshal Vitry, governor of Provence, and Louis XIV placed the convent under his protection in 1656. The gifts of aristocratic families, such as those of Antoine de Valbelle or Gaspard de Foresta, permitted the building of the first cells and the small cloister, blessed in 1652.

The building of the church, designed by dom Jean-Baptiste Berger, a talented prior and architect, began in 1680 but was only completed in 1702 because of financial difficulties. Dom Berger, a major figure of the order, supervised an ambitious project including a monumental nave and an unfinished dome. The peak of the monastery, at the end of the seventeenth century, was followed by its dissolution in 1789 during the Revolution. The property was confiscated and sold, with the exception of the church, which became parish in 1803. The Chartreux, dispersed, lived underground, as dom Joseph de Martinet, the last undeclared priest of Marseilles, died in 1795 and buried in the church in 1856.

In the 19th century, the church, too small for a growing population, underwent modifications, including the opening of arcades between the nave and the collaterals in 1860. Michel Serre's painting, the only vestige of the monastery's 35 canvases, Apotheosis of Saint Mary Magdalene, was resettled in 1833. The building, marked by a fire in 1906 that destroyed the Daublaine & Callinet organ, was equipped with a new Mutin organ in 1912, still in place. In 1956, a sacred art program modernized its decoration, with windows by Max Ingrand and sculptures by Louis Botinelly and Alfred Lang.

Ranked a historic monument in 2025, the Chartreux church is distinguished by its 31-metre ionic facade, its eight-column peristyle, and its richly decorated interior, including a Flemish chair of the Goyer brothers (1862) and a high altar classified since 2002. The Chartreux district, which takes its name from the monastery, also preserves the old hotel house transformed into a presbytery. Today, the church remains a major testimony of 17th century Marseille religious architecture, combining Cartusian heritage and parish adaptations.

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