Seiz Charterhouse

Seiz Charterhouse or Seitz Charterhouse (Slovene: "Žička kartuzija") was a Carthusian monastery or charterhouse in the Valley of St. John the Baptist, near the present village of Žiče (German: Seiz, formerly Seitz [early forms of the name: Seitz (1185), Sitze (1186, 1243), Seiz (1202, 1234), Sishe (1229), Seitis (1233), Sits (1235, 1257), Siz (1237), Syces (1240), Sic (1243), Syces (1245), Siths (1247), Seits (1257)] ) in northeastern Slovenia (otherwise Lower Styria), in the community of Slovenske Konjice.

The charterhouse was founded between 1155 and 1165, and is the oldest monastery in Slovenia.Fact|date=August 2008 It was also the first Carthusian foundation in the German sphere of influence of the time, and indeed the first outside France or Italy. The monastery was also famous for having one of the oldest pharmacies on the territory of Slovenia.Fact|date=August 2008

History

Seiz Charterhouse was founded between 1155 and 1165 by Margrave Ottokar III of Styria [as with most medieval monasteries there is a foundation legend, which in this case relates that Ottakar was led to the site when he got lost in dense forest during a hunt] , and his son Duke Ottokar IV of Styria, of the house of Traungau , both of whom were buried there [the bodies were later moved to Rein Abbey] . The monastery was settled by Carthusian monks from the Grande Chartreuse in France ("Ecclesia Maior"), which also financed the construction of most of the buildings and influenced the arrangement of the premises. As with French charterhouses two monasteries were built here: the upper one (Seiz Charterhouse), where the cloister monks lived according to the strict rule of the Carthusians; and the lower monastery in the village of Špitalič for the lay monks, who spent less time in prayer and worked as craftsmen: their work gave support to the upper monastery and its prosperity.

At the time of the Great Schism in the western Roman Catholic church in the 14th century, Seiz Charterhouse became in 1391 for a time the seat of the Prior General of the Carthusian order. The monastery church of Saint John the Baptist was consecrated in the same year.

When the Ottoman army burned down the lower monastery in the 15th century, all the monks moved to the upper, more fortified one.

The monastery suffered a further Ottoman attack in 1531, when it was pillaged, after which there began a decline in its fortunes. In 1564 it passed into the hands of commendatory abbots and in 1591 to the Jesuits of Graz. It was recovered by the Carthusians in 1593, after which it prospered once again.

In 1782 Emperor Joseph II abolished the monastery, one of the earliest to be dissolved under the Josephine Reforms.

The charterhouse was allowed to fall into decay. The ruins were bought in 1826 from the Religious Foundation by Prince Weriand of Windisch-Graetz (also Windischgrätz) and remained the property of this family until the end of World War II.

Library

Seiz once had one of the richest libraries in the whole of Europe. Paolo Santonino, a missionary, wrote in his "Itinerary" ["Itinerario in Carinzia, Stiria e Carniola (1485-1487)", transl. Roberto Gagliardi, published 1999, Biblioteca de L'unicorno. ISBN 8881472023] that the monks had more than 2,000 volumes (manuscripts). Now only 120 are known, with fragments of a further 100 or so.

Present day

Today the charterhouse is an important historical-cultural monument with about 20,000 visitors every year. Reconstruction works are still in progress, under expert supervision. As a part of charterhouse near the entrance the "Gastuž" is located, the oldest inn (dating from 1467) on the territory of Slovenia.

Notes

ources

German:
* Graus, 1872: "Die älteste Kartause Deutschlands". Kirchenschmuck
* Muchar, 1844: "Geschichte des Herzogtums Steiermark". Graz
* Stepischnegg, 1884: "Das Kartäuser-Kloster Seiz". Marburg

Slovene:
* Golob, Nataša, 2006: "Srednjeveški rokopisi iz Žičke kartuzije (1160-1560)". Narodna galerija, Ljubljana (COBISS)
* Zadnikar, Marijan, 1973: "Žička kartuzija". Maribor (COBISS)
* Zdravič Polič, Nina, 1995: "Gotika v Sloveniji". Narodna galerija, Ljubljana (COBISS)

External links

* [http://www.gradovi.net/show.php?id=3 Gradovi.net: Žička kartuzija] sl icon
* [http://www.gremoven.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=10 GremoVEN.com: Žička kartuzija] sl icon
* [http://www.ng-slo.si/default.asp?k=razstava_dogodek&rid=167 Slovenian National Gallery exhibition relating to the Žička kartuzija 16.11.2006-21.1.2007] sl icon