It offers a fascinating look at monastic life in Arequipa, with its colorful streets, quiet courtyards and religious artwork.
This religious tourist complex was founded in 1579, it was built as a small town, it was expanded in the seventeenth century. The convent occupies an area of approximately twenty thousand square meters and its distribution is similar to that of the first neighborhoods of the city of Arequipa.The Convent of Santa Catalina is probably one of the largest convents in the world. 450 nuns have lived here for more than 400 years, completely secluded from the world. The inhabitants of Arequipa had no notion of what went on inside the complex, many fantastic stories circulate about this convent. Santa Catalina was shrouded in mystery until 1970, when a large part of the convent opened its doors to the public.
The northern area of the complex is still inhabited by nuns. Visiting the enclosure you can freely get to know the rest of the convent. You can still breathe the atmosphere of the dark Middle Ages by visiting the dining room, the room where the nuns do the washing and a complete library with incredible collections of books, unfortunately this library is not always open to the public.
Visitors can stay all day and can enter the inhabited sector of the convent, which provides a great deal of inspiration.
One of the cloisters belonged to the Blessed Sister of the Angels Monteagudo, who was beatified during the visit to Peru of Pope John Paul II in 1985, likewise in the art gallery you can find works of the Cuzco school.
Visits are from Monday to Sunday, the regular schedule is from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, in high season this schedule varies from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm and Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm.
General admission is S/. 30.00 nuevos soles.
