Certosa di Padula

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The Certosa di Padula, also known as Carthusian Monastery of Padula or Chartreuse of Padula or Certosa di S. Lorenzo or St. Lawrence Carthusian Monastery, is a large famous Carthusian monastery in the Cilento National Park near Salerno in Southern Italy. It is a World Heritage site.

The monastery the second largest Chartreuse in Italy after the one in Parma. It was founded by Tommaso San Severino on 27th April 1306 on the site of an existing coenoby. It is dedicated to St. Lawrence, and its architectural structure recalls the grate upon which the saint was burnt alive. The building history covers 450 years. Main parts of the building are in Baroque style. It is rather large: 51,500 m² (12.7 acres) in all with 320 rooms and halls.

The monastery has the biggest cloistre of the world at 12,000 m² (2.97 acres), it is surrounded by 84 columns. A famous spiral staircase out of white marble inside an annex leads to the large library.

According to the stern Carthusian rules between contemplation and work in use in the Chartreuse there are two distinct places for these practices: the peaceful cloisters, the library with its nice fine Vietri ceramic tiled floor, the chapels decorated with fine inlaid marble works, the cloister orchards ; and the large kitchen - where the legendary one thousands egg omelette was cooked for Charles V -, the cellars with their enormous wine vats, the laundries, and the huge external yards, where there were people working at the stables, ovens, stores, and at the olive oil mill. The yards were used for productive activities and for trade exchanges of the Chartreuse with the external world. The Monastery houses the archaeological museum of Western Lucania, which preserves a collection of all the finds unearthed in the excavations at the necroplis of Sala Consilina and Padula. This museum represent a period of time ranging from proto-history to the Hellenistic Age.