Chartreuse, Grande [key], mountainous massif, Isère dept., SE France, in the Dauphiné Alps; Chamechaude Peak (6,847 ft/2,087 m) is the highest point. There in a high valley St. Bruno founded (1084) the famous monastery, La Grande Chartreuse, the principal seat of the Carthusians until 1903, when the order was expelled from France. The Carthusians returned to their monastery in 1941. The monastery was destroyed several times; the present buildings (now a museum) date mainly from the 17th cent. Chartreuse liqueur originated there.
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