Las Capuchinas Convent

About this place

Las Capuchinas Convent is one of the finest ruin sites in Antigua Guatemala, once home to Capuchin Clarissine nuns. It combines a wide stone cloister, quiet gardens and a strange circular tower, giving a clear idea of religious life in the colonial city before the earthquake. The nuns reached the city in 1726, after King Philip V approved the building of the church and convent in 1725. Their order had begun in Naples in 1522. Earthquakes struck Antigua again and again, and the 1773 quake badly damaged the site and led to the capital moving away. The place is now a museum and the seat of the city's conservation council. You enter a courtyard ringed by thick arches and low stone columns, with a fountain at its centre and flowers around it. A passage leads to the round tower, with small rooms arranged in a circle. You then see the kitchen, water basins and wall remains in old plaster colours, and at the far end an open area of broken stone walls and green grass. It is about 410 m in a straight line from San José Cathedral. Sources report the museum open from 9:00 to 16:00, Monday to Friday, while other monuments keep different hours, so check ahead. The ground is uneven, so wear suitable shoes. Do not sit on the old walls, and take care on narrow stairs, as the site is old.