Église des Chartreux, Neoclassical church in 4th arrondissement of Marseille, France.
Église des Chartreux is a Neoclassical church on Place Edmond-Audran in Marseille's 4th arrondissement. Its pale stone facade has a tall central section topped by a cross, a round clock face above the entrance, and a large arched window with dark gridded glass. A horizontal band bears the letters "D·O·M", and six cylindrical columns support the entablature. The frieze reads "MASSILIENSEM FUNDAVIT ANNO MDCXXXVII". The nave measures 47 by 10 metres and rises 27 metres.
Carthusian monks from Villeneuve-lès-Avignon founded the monastery here in 1632; the first stone was laid on 8 September 1633 by Marshal de Vitry. The church itself was built from 1680 under prior Dom Jean-Baptiste Berger and consecrated on 11 December 1702 by Bishop de Vintimille. The community was dissolved during the Revolution, and the church became the parish church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in 1803.
The choir holds Michel Serre's painting of the apotheosis of Saint Mary Magdalene, returned there in 1833. It is the only one of the monastery's 35 canvases still in the church; four others are kept at the Musée Longchamp. The high altar, a 1956 crucifix by Georges Chauvel and statues by Louis Botinelly and Alfred Lang fill the interior.
The church stands at 26 place Edmond-Audran in Marseille's 4th arrondissement, served by the Chartreux metro station. The former monastery entrance faced today's place Pierre-Brossolette, and the grand cloister's axis now forms boulevard de la Fédération. The nave was widened in 1860 by piercing the blind arcades between nave and side aisles.
The grand cloister was planned for 30 cells but only about 15 were built before work stopped; its axis now forms Boulevard de la Fédération. The small cloister stood behind the church and was finished in 1651, blessed the following year by Bishop de Puget.
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