Église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, dite des Chartreux

English translation

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History

Founded in 1632-1633 by the Carthusian monastery of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon at 3 km to the east of the urban enclosure and suppressed at the Revolution, the Carthusian monastery of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine was, thanks to the wealth of its foundress and the gifts of Marseille notables, a vast monastery endowed with the largest church built in Marseille in the 17th century, a work by the prior Dom Jean-Baptiste Berger. Only the church which became parochial and the building of the former hostelry which became presbytery remain in the district which now bears the name of the Chartreux. The church consecrated in 1703 comprised a long nave of which 4 of the 6 bays formed a closed choir, two side-aisles occupied by the individual chapels of the brothers, a flat chevet. Of the ambitious project of Dom Berger, only the dome planned above the choir and the monumental sculpture planned at the crowning of the peristyle of the façade had not been realised for lack of means. In the 19th century, the works of adaptation of the building to parochial use resulted, in 1860, in the piercing of large arcades allowing communication between nave and aisles. In the 20th century, the presentation of the building was completely renewed by the commission, in 1956, of a substantial programme of sacred art. The realisation of a set of stained glass windows by the glassmaker Max Ingrand is the most striking element.