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The Carthusian Monastery is an amazing example of Baroque architecture, with its Doric arches, ornate decoration and intricate sculptures and carvings, and it is well worth a visit. Construction began in 1516 and continued for the next three hundred years but the project was never completed. Eventually, lands were confiscated from the monks in 1836 and the cloister and the cells were destroyed in 1842 and the Prior's House in 1943. |
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The
monastery was home to a community of monks and laymen who lived
under a vow of silence. They would spend their days praying, meditating,
studying
and working, and they would also do crafts (the rosary beads that they
used to make from rose petals can be bought in the souvenir shop next
door). While the laymen were allowed to leave the cloister once a week,
the monks only left three or four times a year. |
Following a simple diet, they didn't eat meat and on Fridays they would
only eat bread and water. Most of their meals would be eaten in their
rooms, but on Sundays and Holy Days they would eat in the refectory.
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