Chartreuse de Champmol
The Chartreuse de Champmol is an abbey, located not far from Dijon, in Burgundy, founded to become the necropolis of the Ducs of Burgundy of the family of Valois.
After the French revolution, in 1790, the Chartreux are driven out by it and it becomes Bien national.
In 1791, Emmanuel Crétet (future Prime Minister for the interior of Napoleon Bonaparte) uses its personal fortune to acquire it and withdraws itself there.
Today, the " Chartreuse" indicate the hospital specialized (CHS, synonymous with psychiatric hospital) of Dijon, and the expression " to go in Chartreuse" mean today in Dijon being hospitalized in psychiatry! In spite of these vicissitudes, it remains in Chartreuse of fort interesting pieces of medieval sculpture, major testimonys of art burgondo-Flemish. That which will dare to cross the grids of the CHS will discover unsuspected treasures.
The two great units preserved at Chartreuse are the " Well of Moïse" and the gate of the vault which formerly contained the monumental tombs of the Philippe dukes the Bold one and Jean without Peur, reconstituted today with the museum of the Art schools of Dijon
The gate of the vault develops an iconography which one frequently finds, in particular in the retables; the duke Philippe Bold the and the duchess Marguerite, introduced by their patron saint, are in prayer with the feet of the Virgin, represented with the pier holding the child Jésu S. the statues all are in round bump, and the Vierge especially holds the attention by its movement and the complex folds of draped of its clothing.
The " Well of Brace " do not constitute that the base of a martyrdom which was at the center of a well located in the middle of the cloister of the chartreuse one, and whose layout is now evoked by lawns around the shelter which protects the monument since the 17th century. On the basis that we can still admire was placed a Christ in cross, whose beautiful bust is preserved at the archaeological museum (a copy in is also visible street condorcet, in a niche). It was surrounded by Midsummer's Day and the Virgin Mary, now missing. One can have an idea (approximate) of the aspect of origin while going to see the martyrdom which is on the back terrace of the general hospital, In the state, the monument remains remarkable, because it preserves the full-length portraits and in round bump of six prophets of old the wills, surmounted angels represented in an attitude of sadness or lamentation. Each prophet is strongly individualized, and holds a phylactère where is writes a text drawn from the writings. The faces are strongly individualized, realistic, probably inspired old men of a contemporary Jewish community. The nobility is marked in the features of these men, that attributes make it possible to recognize (horns for Moïse, quadrant for David,…).
One can hope that after the remarkable restoration whose the object the well of Brace was, an easier access will be developed in order to offer to the greatest number an access to this major site of the history of medieval art in occident.