Tour of the exhibition:
A tour of the exhibition looks as follows: having seen an introductory film providing a first impression of the theme, visitors start their tour of the historical monastic buildings. They first enter the cloister, where the history, development, and significance of the Carthusian order is explained. Then the Carthusians in the Netherlands are introduced, with the Roermond monastery serving as a specific example and highlighting the special character of this monastery. It is special because it is the only remaining Carthusian complex in the Netherlands. The Bethlehem chapel, now unfortunately demolished, was the place of pilgrimage that was the origin of the monastery and serves as an example of an exceptional architectural style. The foundation of this Carthusian monastery, instigated from Cologne, is also explained. The following section deals with the building history of the complex, using topographical materials and showing a virtual reconstruction. This is followed by a section on daily life in the Bethlehem monastery, including the significance of the monastery for the town of Roermond and its environs.

Then visitors enter the chapter house, which has been turned into a treasury showcasing some very precious objects on loan. These art objects serve to explain the function of art within the Carthusian order. This is also where we address the question how such a strict and austere order came to have such a wealth of art possessions and such rich buildings.

Visitors then proceed from the chapter house/treasury to the chapel. In the chapel, three themes are dealt with. The first of these is the assassination of twelve Carthusian monks by the troops of William of Orange. In the presence of relics of these Roermond martyrs kept in the chapel, the exhibition presents some large paintings, manuscripts, and prints to show not only that this black page in the monastery’s history has left a deep impression within the order, but also that this calamity was initiated within the Counter Reformation. The chapel’s choir centralizes the celebration of the liturgy. In a reconstruction of the former high altar, which is currently set up in the parish church of Thorn, we show the liturgical vessels and vestments that are the heritage of the Carthusian monastery. The third theme in the chapel focuses on the monastery’s most prominent resident: Dionysius of Rijkel, doctor extaticus. This world-renowned late-medieval theologian lived and worked a large part of his life as a monk in Roermond.

Dionysius is not the only important author the monastery has produced. The monastery is also proud to count among its residents men like Henrick Egher of Kalkar and Bartholomeus of Maastricht. The monastery’s intellectual climate is illustrated in the final section of the exhibition, dealing with the monastery’s culture of scripts, accommodated in the brothers’ chapel, which also contains the remains of monumental late-medieval murals. On display are precious manuscripts and old prints in possession of the Roermond Carthusian monastery.

The Roermond Carthusians and their art (Liesbeth Zuidema)
The strict eremitic order was recently featured in the impressive documentary Into Great Silence by the German director Philip Gröning. Though Carthusians, in line with their rule of life, were supposed to lead lives of simplicity, a variety of works of art made their way into Dutch Carthusian monasteries anyhow in the late Middle Ages. On the occasion of the exhibition, therefore, a treasury has been fitted out in the chapter house of the former Carthusian monastery in Roermond, to give visitors an impression of what a Carthusian monastery would have looked like in days gone by. Here, we will lift a corner of the veil. In the treasury, several art objects are on display that will tell visitors something about the various functions such objects fulfilled in a Carthusian monastery. The Carthusians spent the larger part of their lives in the silence and solitude of their cells, where they would spend a great deal of daily time contemplating moments from the Passion of the Christ. The treasury, therefore, shows several devotional objects that would aid Carthusians in their contemplation of Christ’s life. One of these devotional objects is the beautiful diptych, commissioned by the Carthusian Willem Bibau and painted by the Master of the Legend of Magdalena in 1523. Willem was a real careerist monk. Besides being prior of the Carthusian monastery in Geertruidenberg, he was also prior general of the Carthusian order. He is depicted in a praying position on the right-hand panel of the diptych, sending his prayers to the Virgin Mary, who is represented on the left-hand panel of the diptych with the Christ Child on her arm. The back of the right-hand panel represents the death on the cross, symbolized by the five wounds of Christ. This representation tells us something about the spirituality of the Carthusians, which, in the late Middle Ages, focused mainly on Christ’s physical suffering. The art objects in the cells of a Carthusian monastery, therefore, served a devotional purpose for the Carthusians. In addition to the world of the Carthusians, the lay world was also represented in a Carthusian monastery. Thanks to a memorial book in the Carthusian monastery in Utrecht, we know that there were many lay graves to be found in the cloister of a Carthusian monastery. Memorial pieces were often placed close to these graves to keep the memory of the deceased alive. Several of these memorial pieces are on display in the treasury. One of these memorial pieces is the triptych (2^rd photo) commissioned by the mayor of Delft, Dirk of Beesd, and painted by the Master of Delft in 1514. The triptych was placed near Dirk’s grave, which was located in the Carthusian monastery of Delft. The central panel represents Anne, Mary, and Jesus. The left-hand panel depicts Dirk with his sons and the right-hand panel his wife with their daughter in a praying position. Their son Dirk had entered the Carthusian monastery in Delft and is represented in a white habit on the left-hand panel. The couple’s prayer portraits and coat of arms represented the lay world. When the panels were closed, however, a representation of St Jerome in the wilderness served as an example to the Delft Carthusians. The triptych thus served both laymen and Carthusians and is a wonderful reflection of the interaction between the lay world and the Carthusian world as these met in a Carthusian monastery.