The name ČERVENÝ KLÁŠTOR / Vöröskolostor (red cloister) derives from the colour of its roof tiles. Master Kakas, son of Rikalf and ancestor of the Berzeviczy family, founded it for the Carthusians, who possessed it until 1545. Following a series of changes in its ownership, the edifice was purchased in the early 1700s for 30,000 florins by László Matyasovszky, Bishop of Nitra, who settled Italian Camaldulians in it. After King Joseph II of Habsburg had the contemplative religious orders dissolved in 1782, the monastery was acquired by the Greek Catholic Bishopric of Prešov.

The building complex of Červený Kláštor dates from successive art historical periods. The first period is represented by the (remains of) purely Gothic edifices, which were built by the Carthusians in the early 1300s. The next period fell in the mid-17th century, when the loopholed circular wall was built. The third period commenced in the mid-1700s with the Camaldulians, who had the church and the monastery rebuilt in Rococo style. The church has one nave and its windows date from the 14th century. One of the chantries flanking the choir was built at the expense of Zsigmond Kapy, canon of Eger (Hungary) and titular bishop; he was buried here in 1728.

Renowned monks of Červený Kláštor included Cyprian - a botanist, herbalist, and compiler of a herbal (1750-1760), and Romuald Hadvábny (1714-1780), the first Slovak translator of the Holy Writ and author of a Latin-Slovak dictionary and a Slovak grammar.

Bibliography: Divald 1905, Encyklopédia Slovenska, Kollár, Kristó, Posewitz, Raisz, Szepesi