The Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena in Arequipa Peru

This monastery of nuns of the Dominican Second Order was a real surprise. Built in 1579. It served as a cloister for Dominican nuns from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and still houses a small religious community today. For nearly 400 years very few people knew how the monastery looked behind its walls. It was opened to the public in 1970.