Convento de La Merced

The yellow stucco facade of the Convento de La Merced is covered in intricate, white floral plasterwork that resembles lace carved into stone. This church and monastery complex survived the massive earthquakes of seventeen seventy-three that leveled much of Antigua. While the rest of the city fell, the Mercedarians stayed, refusing to abandon their convent for the new capital. They reinforced the walls with thick buttresses, keeping this heavy, low-slung building anchored against the tremors that broke every other stone structure nearby.