The Monasterio de Santa Catalina, founded in 1579 by the noblewoman María de Guzmán, is tucked within the urban blanket of white sillar in Arequipa, Peru, hiding behind blind walls of grey stone. Built as a cloistered refuge, it sheltered the daughters of Spanish elites who withdrew from the world. Within its thick corridors, where sunlit arcaded walkways, vaulted ceilings, terracotta-tiled floors, and candlelit chapels intertwine, life once moved in hushed rituals. For centuries, its secrets remained sealed behind iron-latched doors, but in 1970, the monastery partially opened, revealing its sun-drenched cloisters and timeworn frescoes to the outside world. Today, nuns still live in quiet seclusion, while visitors wander its ochre and cobalt passageways and dark chambers still drenched in solitude.
