Charterhouse of Sainte-Marie de Portes

In 1115, two Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Ambronay (Ain), Bernard de Varey and Ponce, withdrew to Portes with the intention of practising eremitical life, with the support of the monastery of Ambronay, which provided the land, and of Gauceran, Archbishop of Lyon. They soon established contact with the Grande Chartreuse (Isère) and its prior Guigo (or Guigues, † 1136), who sent monks to instruct them in Carthusian customs. This house is regarded as the second Carthusian foundation after the Grande Chartreuse, or the third if the foundation of Santo Stefano del Bosco (Calabria) by Saint Bruno himself is taken into account.

In the early modern period, the house benefited from the protection of the Dukes of Savoy, the monarchy, and the papacy, enabling it to acquire numerous possessions. The monastic complex was entirely rebuilt in the seventeenth century. Suppressed in 1791 as a result of the Revolution, it was repurchased by the Carthusians in 1855, who were able to resume monastic life there. It remains active today, despite an interruption between 1903 and 1951, when it suffered a second expulsion. An ivory oliphant (eleventh–twelfth centuries), discovered around 1400 and donated to the charterhouse, is preserved in the National Library of France; it had been kept at Portes until the Revolution.