We will first visit the Convent and Church of Santa Teresa, built over Inca ruins in the mid-XVI century. This is where the Viceroy Francisco Toledo lived during his stay in Cusco. In addition to its historic importance, this is a Convent currently inhabited by cloister nuns (unique). Next, we will visit the Santa Clara Convent, also built in the mid-XVI century, where the Conquerors’ daughters were normally sent to complete their studies.
The San Francisco Convent is next in our tour. Known as the oldest Convent in Cusco, this place holds incredible pieces of art, especially a 12 x 19m canvas (224 coats of arms, 203 legends and 683 characters all together in one enormous painting) and beautiful big-format, carved wood work.
In the end, we will visit the Convent of La Merced, where we will find several expressions of both the Cusqueño and European School of Arts – having as its main attraction a ‘monstrance’ made of solid gold with inlays of diamonds and pearls.
All these amazing altars are made of gold leaf and throughout the tour we will be able to appreciate art of the XVI century – also in the architectonic aspect – observing a combination of styles, such as Baroque, Gothic, Renaissance and Cusqueño.