Zice Charterhouse

Žiče was founded around 1160 in a closed valley chosen for its silence, and it was the first Carthusian house established outside the order's original Romance-speaking territory; for a time its prior headed the whole order. Joseph II dissolved it in 1782 and the buildings were quarried and left to fall, so what stands now is a roofless Gothic church, the walls of the cloister ranges and outbuildings, consolidated and opened. A restored gatehouse holds a collection on the herbal pharmacy the monks ran.

Background

Žiče, Seiz in German, stood in the narrow valley of the Žičnica creek, also called the valley of St John the Baptist after the monastery church, in the municipality of Slovenske Konjice. It was founded between 1155 and 1165 by Ottokar III, Margrave of Styria, and his son Ottokar IV, and both were buried here. The foundation deed of 1165 is kept in the Styrian Provincial Archive in Graz. It was the first Carthusian house in the German lands of the time and the first anywhere outside France or Italy.

Source: Wikipedia, "Žiče Charterhouse"

What's there

• The roofless church - Gothic walls and window tracery open to the sky.
• The cloister ranges - the outlines of cells and communal buildings.
• The pharmacy collection - a display on the monastery's herbal tradition.
• The closed valley - the deliberately silent site the Carthusians chose.

When to go

April to October; winter opening is limited and the ruins are exposed. Summer concerts are held in the church shell. Rain makes the grass and stone slippery.

Before you go

It is a ruin, and visitors expecting a preserved monastery will find walls and grass. Interpretation is limited and largely in Slovene. Facilities are minimal outside the gatehouse cafe.

Nearby

Slovenske Konjice is north, and Rogla is northwest.

Key facts