When the Margrave of Styria Ottokar III returned from the Second Crusade, he wished for some relaxation and therefore visited Leopold from Gonobitz to go hunting on Mount Konjice (Slovene: Konjiška gora).

He followed it as bewitched on his horse, but because he was not able to catch it he fell asleep in the shade on the hot summer afternoon (on St. John the Baptist's day).

A man in a white fur coat appeared in his dream and revealed himself as St. John the Baptist, ordering him to build a monastery on this place.

Upper one (Domus Superior), where the cloister monks used to live according to the strict rule of the Carthusians, they spend time in contemplative prayer and individual work in their cells.

Lower one (Domus Inferior) in the settlement of Špitalič for the lay monks, who had less prayer and spend time in manual labor in the agriculture, winegrowing, as craftsments at grass making, sawmills, brickwork, supporting the upper monastery and contributing to its prosperity.

Lower monastery boasted so called Hospice also, where people in need were given charity, as money, clothes, food and medicine, made also of their own herbs, according to the recipes from carthusian library.

[9] The ruins of the Žiče Charterhouse were bought at auction from Imperial Religious Fund (Religionsfond) in 1826 by Prince Weriand of Windisch-Graetz and remained the property of this family until the end of World War II.

The monastic Carthusian church was dedicated to Saint John the Baptist (Ecclesia Maior) and consecrated on 24 October 1190 by Patriarch Godfrey.

In the mid-16th century, as the result of a number of tragic events in the preceding half-century, the monastery was nearly abandoned and Archduke Charles II of Styria ordered the books to be moved to the library of the Jesuit College in Graz.

They devoted a large part of their lives to producing precise copies of existing texts as well as creating new ones on a wide range of topics, from theology to astronomy, from practical sciences to those more literary in nature.

Despite the loss of most of the manuscripts, the remnants of impressive library can still provide a valuable insight into several centuries of continuous development of the medieval book.

Some manuscripts also display colourful painted initials and other illuminated elements, created by professional and—as was common practice in those times—by itinerant painters.

In accordance with modern processes nowadays Žiče Chaterhouse hosts many cultural events during summer, even wedding, trying to revitalise historical memory to the chartusians in this area.