The monastery at Chalais began as a house of male hermits, under the guidance of Hugh of Chateauneuf, like the Carthusian monks.

[1] It is located on a plateau overlooking Voreppe at an altitude of 940 metres (3,080 ft), which is often snow-covered in winter.

[5] The monastery originated when saint Hugues de Châteauneuf, bishop of Grenoble, established some monks at Chalais in 1101.

They lived apart from the world, followed the rule of Saint Benedict, practiced forestry and raised sheep.

[6] In 1110 the occupants were thinking of abandoning the hermitage when they were given donations and support by the pious Count of Albon and his wife Mathilde.

In 1148 the fathers established a rule, which they called the "Charter of Charity of the Order of Chalais.

[8] The number of priests and brothers gradually declined, with only five remaining when the French Revolution began in 1789.

[7] In 1932 the owners of the property, the Nicolet-Courbier family, invited the Dominicans from the house of study near Chambéry to spend their holidays there.

In 1963 Dominican nuns from Oullins, near Lyon, settled in Chalais and began to build a new convent on the ruins of the old one.

[7] The choir, transept and a bay of the nave survived the sacking on 1562, and the Carthusians rebuilt the rest of the Romanesque church.

There are slender columns flanking the choir window, which give elegance to the abbey church.

[2] As of 2014 there was a community of twenty nuns in the convent, finding a stable income from the manufacture of biscuits.

The buildings include a dining hall, library, offices, laundry room and the cells of the nuns on the top floor.