Champmol Charterhouse and the Well of Moses (Chartreuse de Champmol et Puits de Moïse)

What you will see

The Well of Moses stands in a small protective pavilion in the hospital grounds. Walk around the hexagon to meet each prophet in turn. The figures are strikingly lifelike, from the folds of their robes to their expressions, and the painter Jean Malouel worked on their original colours. Then find the church portal, where Philip the Bold and his wife Margaret of Flanders are portrayed, and the 1844 chapel with 15th-century glass bearing the arms of Burgundy.

History

Philip the Bold bought the estate of Champmol in 1378 and founded a Carthusian monastery there as the burial place of his dynasty. Duchess Margaret and their son John laid the first stone of the church on 20 August 1383, and it was consecrated in 1388. Artists from the Low Countries and from France worked here side by side, making Champmol a leading centre of art around 1400.

In the middle of the great cloister, Sluter and his workshop carved a monumental cross on a hexagonal pier above a spring, around 1395 to 1405. The cross is lost, but the pier survives, about seven metres high, with six Old Testament prophets: Moses, David, Jeremiah, Zechariah, Daniel and Isaiah. The monks were expelled in 1791 and most buildings were sold and demolished. From 1839 a hospital was built on the site.