Visiting Santa Catalina Convent

Having done no research whatsoever before coming here, I had no idea what to expect. What a revelation! I have never seen anything like it in my life! Mark wasn't up to doing much more walking, so he said he would wait for me outside. Once I started walking around, I quickly became aware of the size of the place and was worried about how long he would have to wait! In the event, I spent a couple of hours here, but I was rushing towards the end and could have stayed much longer!

The Convent of Santa Catalina is the only one in the world with a citadel. It is huge! It recreates a city with streets, alleyways, houses, a church, cloisters, gardens, squares, an art gallery with a valuable collection of over 400 paintings mostly from the Cusco school, chapels, a museum, a cemetary, a laundry, bakehouses, and so much more. It was founded in 1579 by the Dominican order. It still belongs to them, and today is home to 21 cloistered nuns, aged 25 to 100 years plus two 18-year-old novices, who live in a reserved area. The rest of the complex opened to the public in 1970 after 391 years of isolation.

The citadel was built entirely in sillar, a product of volcanic eruptions. Most of the sillar found in the Arequipa Valley was made when the nearby Mount Chachani erupted. The convent is an outstanding example of viceregal architecture.

The nun who became the emblem of Santa Catalina Convent is undoubtedly the beatified Sor Ana de los Angeles Monteagudo of Arequipa (1603 - 1686). Sor Ana was educated from the age of 3 by the nuns of Santa Catalina, and at adolescence, she opted for convent life and devotion to God instead of marrying as her parents wanted her to. She took her vows early in 1620 and was elected Prioress in 1648. Her accurate prophesies and a number of prodigious and miraculous feats were acknowledged during her lifetime. Since her death, it has been shown that 68 of her predictions were accurate. Sor Ana was beatified on 2nd February 1985 during Pope John Paul II's visit to Arequipa. Her mortal remains are interred in the church of the convent.

The first impression when you enter the citadel is of the gorgeous terracotta coloured walls and lots of plants everywhere. As you venture further in, there are also walls painted in vibrant blue, very reminiscent of Chefchouan in Morocco. All the colours used are made from natural pigments. It is very surprising, but beautiful.

Once inside the convent, the first room I came to was the parlour. This is where the nuns communicated with the outside world's from. They spoke to visitors through double wooden bars and passed items backwards and forwards via revolving wooden shelves so that they were never seen.

The next room was the Chapter Room, where the nuns met to discuss important community matters and to read a chapter of the Rule to keep it in the forefront of their minds. Today, the room is laid out as a workroom where works made by the nuns are displayed. These include samples of embroidery and lace. The room is also home to a large sculptural group representing the last supper.Baca lagi