Convento Santa Clara

The heavy stone arches of the Convento Santa Clara survive as the most distinct ruins in Antigua, framing a quiet garden where the roof once stood. This convent began in seventeen hundred when six nuns arrived from Mexico City to establish a home for the Poor Clares. By seventeen thirty-four, their massive complex held a fountain, a cloister, and a church. The devastating earthquake of seventeen seventy-three shattered the main vaults, forcing the sisters to abandon the site and leave the structure open to the sky.