Santa Catalina Monastery · Another City Inside the City

Santa Catalina Monastery in Arequipa occupies a whole block and is built of white volcanic stone, sillar: its own streets, kitchens, courtyards and small squares, where nuns could live a whole life without going outside the walls.

It was closed for nearly four hundred years from the sixteenth century until it was required to open to the public in 1970. The houses inside were ranked by family standing; wealthier nuns brought servants and furniture into their own courtyards.

The walls are still white and the streets are still those few. When visitors are numerous, the monastery’s quiet is more noticeable, not less.

Historical Mysteries / Arequipa · Peru / 1580