Turismo

WELCOME TO SANTA CATALINA MONASTERY (AREQUIPA)

Santa Catalina is the on1y monastery of its kind that measures 20,426m. It was founded by a widow called Maria De Guzman. She was 30 years old and the widow of Diego Hernandez de Mendoza a rich trader. During their marriage they did not have chi1dren.
She founded the Monastery on September 10th 1579.
In 1568 the regiment of justice tried toopen a convent for women called Nuestra Señora de la Gracia they bought the land for 3500.00 pesos, but it did not function because it was refused the permission by the archbishop of Cuzco.
Santa Catalina was the first in the south of Peru and the 4th in the country of religious places to attain the level of Dominican Order. The other three are La Encarnación de Lima (1561), Santa Clara de Asís deHuamanga (1568) and La Concepción de Lima 1573).
Apart from this monastery there is also Santa Rosa in Arequipa and Santa Catalina in Cuzco. The Monastery open to the public as a place for tourists to visit on the 10th of August 1970.

SPEAKING ROOM FOR THE COMMUNITY

These rooms were used by the nuns as the on1y way of comunication with the outside world. The nuns were only aIlowed tohave visitors with the permission of the superior mother and were always accompanied by one of the other nun called ‘the listener nun’. The double bars that you can see here served to see and hear but not be able to touch, according with the law of those times, they avoid that some fanatics tried to touch the nuns.
Also he double bar was for remembering that the nuns renounced the world and livedin solitude. Looking at these bars you can get a clear idea how cut off was the vision of the visitors, it was very limited. This part of the room is quite dark, it is because the stone above makes the shadow, it is called the Huamanga stone. This allows to pass the light but not translucent, it is 3 to 5 cm in thickness. They could also receive gifts through the revolving cylinder. The listenernun would controll what they received through the revolving cylinder. Also on the walls and roof you can see girders made of wood to help the protection in case of earthquakes. The reasons for the earthquakes in this area is because Arequipa is close to the Nazca fault line.

PRIVATE SPEAKING ROOM

This was used exclusively for the council of mothers, superior, sub superior, the teacher,secretary, archives and treasury department also the porter. All of them were elected in a democratic form.

VISITOR AND HANDWORK ROOM

This room was for the reception of some people such as nobles and mayors, the archbishop people who could come into the monastery.
For example before the monastery was opened to the tourists, the records show in 1963 and 1964, the director of Newspaper "LaPrensa" Pedro Beltran, the minister of education Dr Francisco Miro Quesada and the second Cardinal of Peru Juan Landazuri Rickets were a committee of locals to visit. Also in 1978 the King of Spain Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia visited the monastery.
In this room you can see the furniture is covered in tapestry brocade in a French Style made in Peru. Also a piece of furniture "Vargueño or Secretary"this was made in the village of Varges in Toledo City in Spain, it was used to guard personal objects, it is made out of Lemon Wood.
In the back ground you can see the image of the Virgin of Remedies. Also there are three paintinqs, one of them represents the Virgin Mary in her pain and suffering, the seven daggers represent each of her sufferings; of her son Jesus Christ, on the floor is hiscrown of thorns. The next picture is John the Baptist, his clothes are made of camel skin, his red cape and his tall staff. The last represents San Francisco Javier the patron of foreign missionaries.

On the left you can see the Last Supper, these images were around the monastery and they were all brought together with the opening of the monastery in 1970. These images are made in wood,...