This time we go to another beautiful place that tells us more of Arequipa's history; in this case we will talk about the Monastery of La Recoleta in Arequipa that keeps great treasures of history, its library keeps more than 20,000 works of the sixteenth century, you can visit the museum that preserves objects of the Amazon and visit its two rooms of pre-Columbian art.
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The Monastery of La Recoleta was built in the XVI century, in the beginning it was directed for the Franciscans and was closed to the public, another characteristic is that it has a neo-gothic and romantic style at the same time; throughout the time the monastery has been implemented with diverse objects, of course these are shown in their respective exhibition rooms.
But let's talk a little about its origin, the Monastery of La Recoleta was founded by the Franciscan Order in 1648 in the neighborhood of Antiquilla, its construction is surrounded by trees, in the square at the main entrance there are several fountains to admire, the place is quite spacious and adorned more with columns and arch.
When you arrive at the Recoleta Monastery the first thing that will surprise you will be the romantic style to the Gothic style, due to the time that passed this had reforms in its infrastructure, it is said that it opened its doors to the public in 1978, before it was not possible because there were the Franciscans.
What we can see in the Monastery is to visit the museum rooms:
First let's talk about the architecture that shows this site, it consists of four closed places or cloisters, has at least 11 environments, five exhibition halls that are now part of the museum, among them are the Museum of the Amazon here you will find from pieces of flora, fauna and other objects that were used in the daily life of the Amazonians.
Another two rooms are Pre-Columbian Art known as Pre-Columbian Museum, here you will find archaeological pieces and objects that belong to the Chancay, Inca, Chimu, Mochica cultures, and more that will not fail to surprise you with their shapes, sizes and colors.
And the last room is dedicated to religious collections, known as the Museum of Religious Art, here is a variety of artistic pieces, among the most important we have the "Descent of Christ" canvas that belongs to the school of Van Dyck and other sacred pieces such as chalices, monstrances and others.
There is also the well stocked library, here you will find at least 20,000 books, many of them incunabula. If you like to know more about what Peru was, then you should go to the Recoleta Monastery which has a lot of history to tell and show to the general public.
To get here you must go to Recoleta Street which is five minutes from the main square of Arequipa, to enter first you have to pay an entrance fee, the viewing hours are from 09:00 am to 17: 00 hours.
