Coloured lanes
Bright red and blue.
Draceane — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Draceane — CC BY-SA 4.0 · FotosATP-Pe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Dr. Eugen Lehle — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Draceane — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena is a large Dominican convent in the city of Arequipa in southern Peru, founded in 1579. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site «Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa», a short walk from the main square. The monastery covers 20,000 square metres, almost a small city of its own with narrow winding streets, cut off from the town by a solid wall 4 metres high. Earthquakes destroyed its first buildings in 1600 and 1604, and the present ones date from the last third of the 17th century. It stayed closed to the world until 1970, when a large part opened to visitors, and nuns still live in its northern section. It is built of volcanic sillar stone, white from the Chachani volcano and pink from Misti. From outside you see long stone walls and white domes, and within are cobbled lanes between walls painted bright red and blue, decorated with flower pots and cacti. A visit takes one to two hours, and the northern section is closed because the nuns live there. Respect the calm of the place.
Bright red and blue.
White and pink volcanic rock.
Above the walls.
Calle Santa Catalina, historic centre of Arequipa, Peru
Yes, nuns live in its northern section.
One to two hours.
