Description of the attraction
The Convent of San Francisco (St. Francis of Assisi) is located south of La Muralla Park, one block northeast of the Plaza Mayor in Lima. The Church and Convent of Saint Francis is part of the historic center of Lima, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991.
The church and monastery were consecrated in 1673. Although the monastery building and churches survived several strong earthquakes in 1687 and 1746, the 1970 earthquake caused significant damage to the buildings.
The building of the Church of St. Francis is an example of the Spanish Baroque in Peruvian architecture. The vaults of the central and two side aisles embody a combination of Moorish and Spanish designs and are made in the Mudejar style. The main altar is completely carved out of wood. The corridors of the monastery are inlaid with Seville glazed tiles.
The monastery complex consists of a temple, a monastery and two churches - La Soledat and El Milagro. The monastery library is a world renowned repository of ancient manuscripts. It contains about 25,000 unique texts, some of them from the pre-Hispanic period. The most famous books are The Spanish Dictionary, published by the Spanish Royal Academy, and The Holy Bible, published in Antwerp from 1571-1572. The library staircase has an impressive shape and is made in the Moorish style of Nicaraguan cedar.
Among the famous artifacts of the temple - 13 paintings, including the famous painting "The Last Supper" by Diego de la Puente. The monastery also owns several paintings attributed to the artists of the school of Peter Paul Rubens.
In 1943, a crypt was discovered in the catacombs of the monastery, which contains thousands of human skulls and bones. It is believed that 25,000 human bodies were buried there. The crypt is built of bricks and concrete and has withstood all the earthquakes on the Peruvian coast. It was used until 1808 for the burial of the inhabitants of Lima.
