(Northeast Wall – Herculean Addition)
It was Borso d’Este, in 1452, who wanted a Carthusian monastery to be founded in Ferrara. Carthusians are still hermits: there are very few communal spaces in monasteries, and the cells where monks spend their lives are small and bare. The original church was smaller than the present one, but, in the late 15th century, Ercole I with Biagio Rossetti built the new, imposing temple dedicated to St. Christopher, one of the most original works within the Ferrara Renaissance. At the end of the 1700s, an edict mandated that cemeteries be located outside of towns: the Charterhouse was then acquired by the municipality in 1812 and turned into a cemetery. Two recent restorations have been carried out in the church: one in 2004-07 and one just completed to repair damage from the 2012 earthquake. In addition to major consolidations, the furniture and numerous valuable paintings were restored and relocated.
