Chartreuse Saint-Julien et Jardin du Cloître

Normandy, and more particularly the Seine-Maritime region, boasts some magnificent historic and medieval sites that are well worth a visit, such as the Chartreuse de Saint-Julien in Petit Quevilly, near Rouen. The site is typical of the long history of Norman monasteries.

The Saint-Julien estate was created in the 12th century by Henry II Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and King of England, with a chapel and a manor house to house the sick and lepers. At the beginning of the 17th century, several religious brotherhoods took over, followed by the arrival of the Carthusian monks in 1667. In 1678, the Carthusian monks built the first Carthusian monastery on the site of the current administration of Hôpital Saint-Julien. However, as the community grew with new monks, the monastery became unsuitable.
The acquisition of new land enabled the estate to expand, and a new charterhouse was built further east. In 1686, Nicolas Le Genevois designed an ambitious project featuring a reception pavilion, church, chapter house, refectory kitchen and twenty cells arranged around two cloisters. In order to provide better isolation from the outside world, a long wall of almost three kilometers encircled the estate. In 1698, part of this project was built and the monks moved in.

Due to financial difficulties, the construction of the new Carthusian monastery was never fully completed. The French Revolution seized the estate as national property and dismantled the monastery, abolishing the Carthusian Order. Like many religious buildings, the Chartreuse became a quarry for stone and other materials. The two cloisters disappeared, along with the church, the refectory and part of the surrounding wall. The remaining buildings were preserved by being used for housing and other purposes.
Absorbed by modern urban development, the remains of the Chartreuse were rediscovered and subsequently listed as a Monument Historique. In 2010, a major restoration and enhancement project was launched, including the creation of a park.

Now open to the public, the garden, dedicated to contemplation and meditation, is a reminder of its original vocation as a food source, with vegetable gardens, apple trees and medicinal plants.

A visit to La Chapelle St Julien, a jewel of the Middle Ages with its exceptional wall paintings, is a must to complete your knowledge of Petit-Quevilly?s religious heritage. If you fancy a walk, two very detailed itineraries concocted by the Town Hall will give you an insight into the town and the diversity of its heritage, telling the story of places and people.