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Origin and history

The Molsheim Chartreuse was founded in 1626 after the destruction of the Koenigshoffen Chartreuse in 1591, when the Chartreux monks took refuge in the Jesuits of Molsheim. This urban monastery, rare in Cartus order, became a central religious building in the 17th and 18th centuries, famous for its stained glass windows, its library and the Hortus deliciarum, a precious medieval manuscript.

The monastery, designed around a richly decorated church and two cloisters, housed 19 cells for monks. The Chartreux produced remedies, such as medicinal "balls", and kept a library of 4,133 books. The French Revolution led to its closure in 1792, its sale as a national good, and the dispersion of its heritage.

In the 19th century, the remaining buildings were converted to hospitals or sold to private individuals. A heritage awareness in the 1980s allowed the site to be partially restored. Today, the Chartreuse houses a museum, a media library, and spaces dedicated to the Bugatti Foundation, while preserving remains classified as historical monuments since 1998.

The church, demolished after 1797, gave way to foundations discovered in 1983. The cloister, partially restored, and some cells were reconstructed by volunteers. The site, shared between the municipality and the local hospital, remains a unique testimony of urban monastic architecture in Alsace.

Among the remarkable elements, the windows of the cloister, admired by Goethe in 1771, were largely destroyed during the siege of Strasbourg in 1870. Only a few panels remain scattered in regional collections. The Chartreuse of Molsheim thus illustrates the historical and religious upheavals of Alsace, between Counter-Reform and secularization.

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