SANTA CATALINA CONVENT AREQUIPA

The Santa Catalina Convent is renowned worldwide as a colonial architectural masterpiece. The monastery is home to many complex rooms, beautiful plazas, ornate fountains and winding cobblestone streets. As one of the most popular attractions in Arequipa, this is not one to be missed during your visit. This great work of colonial architecture was a cloistered convent which dates back to the 16th century, this massive structure covers more than 20,000 km2 that you can explore. While the monastery once housed approximately 450 people, (both nuns and servants) there are now only approximately 20 nuns living in the northern corner of the building.

Catherine of Siena is the saint to whom this convent is consecrated. Here, silence has found its voice in the bright colors of the convent’s walls and the cobblestone passageways that converge at a beautiful square. As a citadel for women devoted to prayer, charity and the making of delicious desserts to tempt the palate, Santa Catalina is more than a convent; it is a crucible of secrets that visitors only glimpse as they wander through its buildings; secrets that will remain within the convent’s walls forever.

The monastery has been open to the public since 1970. Before that, it was home to a community of nuns but the people from Arequipa knew very little about it since they were not allowed to go inside.

While we recommend exploring the monastery with the aid of one of the multilingual, knowledgeable guides, you can also explore the monastery alone. The monastery is open two evenings a week so that visitors can roam the grounds in candlelight as the nuns would have done years ago.