INCA TRAIL SPECIALISTS,Cusco,Peru All Trek

Santa Catalina Monastery was founded on the second of October in 1580 and has an extension of 20000 square metres and was constructed in the second half of the XVIth Century. The Convent, in which there are still nuns living in cloisters, is a walled small city with narrow streets, passages, stair cases and small squares.

The Convent, a city in miniature closed to the public until 1970, combines the white colour of the sillar with other tonalities, like ochre, indigo and orange that go well with the otherwise austere style.

Society of Jesus Architectural Complex
"Compañia de Jesus"Of impressive conventual aspect, it is the only edifice, which conserves the colonial art from its bases. It consists of two cloisters with portal led corridors made of carved sillar and Jesuitics monograms in the upper part. It is the purest sample of the mestizo Arequipa style.

which was built by the Jesuits in the XVIIth Century, makes an impression by its carved faade that was finished in 1698. Its pulpit in carved wood and its old sacristy, well-known as the so called Sixtine Chapel of Arequipa, was the fruit of the work of anonymous indigenous artists, who imprimed in the work their own colour, their own motives and their own spirit.

The temple presents a structure of two levels, typical of the European churches of the XVIth and XVIIth Centuries. Other architectonic details of interest are the half point vaults and the half columns that hold up the superior floor. Its interior is a display of luxury and ornamentacion, with golden altars of Mestizo Baroque style, a beautiful pulpit from the XVIIth Century and more than 60 paintings of the Cusco School

The Founder's mansion

Built with sillar stone at the edge of a cliff, it is one of the most important and traditional mansions or houses in the department. According to the story, Garci Manuel de Carbajal, founder of Arequipa, had it built for his son. Later, in 1785, Mr. Juan Crisostomo de Goyeneche y Aguerreverre was its proprietor and remodeled it, giving it the distinguished characteristics that can be seen today. The main entrance is composed of a foyer with an arched ceiling, followed by a wide principal patio over which the windows and doors of the bedrooms open.