Carthusian monastery in Bereza - only Cartesians monastery, located on the territory of the former USSR. Order of the Carthusians (Carthusians) was founded in France in 1084. It was one of the most militant and ascetic orders of medieval Europe. Carthusians despised luxury, but I respect the knowledge and science, helping the poor and sick, and was an expert in fortifications. Their monasteries were superb fortresses.

In 1646, the famous son of the Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania Lev Sapieha Casimir Leo wrote a letter to the monks-Cartesians, who lived near Gdansk, where he told about his orders and asked for permission to settle in his dominions. Casimir Leo Sapieha was not inferior to his father in his Christian zeal, he continued his father's business and became the founder, builder trustee of many Catholic monasteries. He liked the idea to found a Carthusian monastery. Having asked permission Bishop Andrew Gemblitskogo, he invited the monks in one of their possessions in the village of Birch.

For the construction of the monastery was invited Italian architect Jean Baptiste Gisleni, under whose leadership in the years 1648-1689 was built the monastery, which was destined to be fatal in the history of nations.

The monastery is located inside the towering walls and residential buildings include fraternal monks, temple, library, dining hall, hospital, pharmacy, outbuildings, garden and pond. It was a fortified city, able to withstand the grueling siege. After the construction of the monastery, the town received a double name Birch-Kartuzskaya.

In 1706, at the Monastery of Carthusians met two monarchs: the Russian tsar Peter I and the Polish King Augustus II, who had fateful consequences for the course of the Northern War.

The monastery many times attacked the enemy, sometimes the enemy was too strong to be able to keep the monastery walls. Each incursion was accompanied by the ruin of the monastery, but he was again rebuilt. The monastery was badly damaged by the war with Napoleon in 1812. After the third partition of Poland, when the Russian government began to oppress the Catholics, began the decline of the monastery, and in 1831 it was closed. Part of the building was handed over to the military, and some - dismantled and sold at building material. In 1915, the remaining buildings of the monastery and the church burned. It has survived only the ruins of the once powerful medieval monastery-fortress.