Cartuja de Granada

( Granada Charterhouse )

Description

Granada Charterhouse (Spanish: Cartuja de Granada) is a Carthusian monastery in Granada, Spain. It is one of the finest examples of Spanish Baroque architecture.

The charterhouse was founded in 1506; construction started ten years later, and continued for the following 300 years. While the exterior is a tame ember in comparison, the interior of the monastery's is a flamboyant explosion of ornamentation. Its complex echoing geometric surfaces make of it one of the masterpieces of Churrigueresque style. The most striking features include the tabernacle, constructed to a design by Francisco Hurtado Izquierdo, the church and the famous sacristy, built between 1727 and 1764 by Luis de Arévalo and F. Manuel Vasquez. The charterhouse displays an extensive collection of paintings, prominent among which the works of Fray Juan Sánchez Cotán.