Convent of Capuchinas
Diego de Porres · Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala · 1736
The former Capuchin convent in Antigua combines a church, cloisters and an unusual circular arrangement of retreat cells. Completed in the eighteenth century and associated with Diego de Porres, the complex makes the organization of enclosed religious life legible through its courts, passages and small rooms. Surviving masonry and later conservation allow visitors to follow the relationship between communal and private space. The circular courtyard is especially useful for understanding how a repeated domestic unit can generate a distinctive collective form. Visiting: The former convent is a ticketed historic site. Check which rooms are open.