Kartuzy is a city located in the heart of the Kaszubian Lake District, about 30km from Gdansk. The collegiate found here is one of the most priceless regional monuments – in the past it was the church of the Carthusian Order. The temple with the monastery was built here from stone and brick at the end of the 14th century. Its roof has retained its unique coffin lid shape to this day. Until the time of its closure the temple was only used by the monks.

The interior of the collegiate is very interesting and richly decorated and has retained some of its Gothic elements but the Baroque style is the more dominant. There are eight altars here, Gothic arch supports, countless paintings and a richly carved abbot’s throne. Of note are the Flemish gilded cordovans, the only examples in Poland – tapestries of specially tanned leather. They hang in the choir and each of the 40 rectangles is decorated with an asymmetrical design.

Attention should also be paid to the unique clock in the centre of the choir balustrade, it tells the time using only one hand and at the end of its pendulum is a figure of the Angel of Death with a moving scythe. Carthusian monks lived in hermitages, single occupation houses with gardens, which were situated on three sides of the collegiate. Of the eighteen original hermitages only one remains.

Kartuzy Municipal Office (woj. Pomorskie)

www.kartuzy.pl