Monastic Life Museum - Monastery of Santa Catalina del Cusco

The museum talks about the daily life of the Dominican nuns of Santa Catalina: their spiritual practices, their knowledge and offices, the formation of the novices, the daily chores. Among the pieces that make up the collection, extraordinary works of painting, sculpture and decorative arts from the viceregal and republican times stand out, as well as exquisite examples of liturgical vestments embroidered by the nuns and works of popular religious art. The series of mural paintings from the early 19th century that adorns the Chapter Hall is particularly famous. The monastery was built in the early seventeenth century on the site of the ancient Akllawasi building of the Incas, "house of chosen women". Some of the remains of the pre-Hispanic walls are seen today on the outside of the monastery.