Cooperación Española

The heavy, studded wooden doors of the Cooperacion Española reveal a sprawling complex built as a convent for the Order of Saint Claire in the late seventeenth century. After a series of massive earthquakes in seventeen seventy-three destroyed most of the city, these ruins sat abandoned for two hundred years. Restoration crews eventually stabilized the crumbling stone walls and arches, turning the site into a cultural center that preserves the colonial architecture while hosting galleries and concerts within the roofless, grass-floored nave.