Santa Catalina Monastery

Arequipa, Peru

---

Santa Catalina Monastery in Arequipa, Peru, is a vast 16th-century colonial complex founded in 1579 by wealthy widow María de Guzmán as a cloistered convent for Dominican nuns of the Order of Saint Catherine of Siena, spanning 20,000 square meters with its own streets, plazas, and over 300 cells built from white sillar volcanic stone.

Home to up to 450 nuns from elite families who paid hefty dowries, it operated as a self-contained "city within a city" for centuries, featuring vibrant blue-and-red painted walls, cloisters like the Novice and Orange Tree patios, a silent library, kitchens with clay jars for water, and an art-filled church, until reforms in 1871 curbed luxuries and it opened to the public in 1970 after earthquake damage. 

Today a major tourist site preserving Arequipa's heritage, a small active community of about 20 nuns remains secluded in one section, while the rest showcases frescoes, paintings, and everyday artifacts from secluded religious life.​