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CALL 877.784.5400 TOLL FREE
(outside USA call +1.206.784.8111)
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At the foot of El Misti, six hundred miles south of the capital, Peru’s second largest city, Arequipa, rises from the Andean highlands. The people of Arequipa have been both the victims and beneficiaries of the eighty volcanoes nearby. The white porous volcanic rock called sillar became the primary building material during colonial times. Called "the white city," Arequipa's unique monochromatic cityscape today attracts tourists from around the world to travel to Peru.
The city's most extraordinary sillar construction may be found in the immense Santa Catalina Monastery in the center of Arequipa. This vividly painted complex is a city within a city, containing six streets named after Spanish cities, a labyrinth of corridors, three cloisters, each different from one another, and many places of prayer. . . [Read more below]
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The Monastery dates back to the 16th century. In 1572, on a Peru tour of the colony, Peruvian Viceroy Francisco de Toledo stopped in Arequipa, home to a large Spanish population. On learning of the town’s desire to build a convent for the families of these wealthy immigrants, he gave his approval, under the Patron Saint Catherine of Siena. Construction got underway, eventually aided by the generosity of a young, wealthy widow, Dona Maria de Guzman, who entered the convent and donated her fortune to complete the buildings. The complex opened in the fall of 1580. Just two years later, a major earthquake shook Arequipa, severely damaging the monastery. Rebuilding began immediately and continued over the next two centuries, giving the complex its mix of mestizo and colonial architecture called Mudejar style. With the convent's wealthy underpinnings, the nuns lacked for little. The order eventually expanded to 150 nuns who were served by approximately 300 workers, among them, servants and some slaves. The arrival of Dominican Sister Josefa Cadena brought a more austere rule to the convent. Slaves were freed, and the nuns' generous dowries were forwarded on to Europe. Today just twenty nuns reside in the Santa Catalina Convent. To generate much needed maintenance funds, the monastery opened its doors to day-tourists in 1970. Now one can enjoy a Peru Tour inside the Monastery as a part of your Peru Travel. The infusion of new funding has brought welcome modernization to Santa Catalina including electricity and running water. The renovations also uncovered some 400 colonial-era paintings, primarily of religious subjects, that have been restored and now hang in a gallery within the complex. The collection includes representatives of the Cusco School of Painting, reflecting the Spanish influence on indigenous artists during colonial times. The monastery's eclectic architecture and the scale of the complex make Santa Catalina a fascinating place to visit and photograph while on your Peru Tour. Four of Southern Explorations' Peru trips travel to Arequipa: the eighteen-day Adventure Peru tour; the fourteen-day Best of Peru tour; the thirteen-day Inca Trail and Colca Canyon tour; and the ten-day Machu Picchu and Colca Canyon tour. Southern Explorations also offers a four-day Peru Tour to Arequipa and Colca Canyon as a Peru Tour Extension. All of these trips include Santa Catalina in the itinerary. |
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