Arequipa - The Monastery

If only one of Arequipa's many historical sights was to be visited, it would definitely have to be the Monastery of Santa Catalina. It is not a single building, rather it is a complex of 20,000 square metres with many buildings that were home for Dominican nuns for centuries. It was built in 1580 and originaly meant for nuns coming from best (and richest) Spanish families. The life resembled more an exclusive club where nuns had each one to four servants, organized parties and lead merry life. This went on for three centuries.

The outside world didn't know much about the life inside the monastery till 1970. Then the nuns were forced to open it for tourists in order to earn money for installing electricity and running water as required by the city council.