Santa Catolina Monastery
One of the features of Arequipa is the Monastery of Santa Catolina. A huge sprawling complex with a four hundred year history. Originally founded by a wealthy widow and populated by privileged daughters of well to do European families. The families of these girls would pay a huge dowry to the monastery to take their daughters. The inhabitants lived a life of luxury behind their high walls. They had servants, feasts parties and fine clothes.
After a couple hundred years of this the pope decided to reign in this wayward bastion of hedonism. He sent one of his bishops to reform the Monastery. The bishop brought on a new woman to run the place and together they instituted strict new rules. The women were forced to eat together, the servants were no longer to wait on them hand and foot. All privileges were taken away and they finally began living true lives of seclusion. From this point the doors of the Monastery closed and the nuns retreated from the outside world.
Then in 1972 the mayor of Arequipa insisted the Monastery open its doors to tours. A new compound was built in one corner of the grounds and older sections were opened for visitors. Now this facility hosts thousands of guests every year who come to marvel at the architecture, art, and history of the Monastery. Wandering through the labyrinth of passages, staircases, rooms and courtyards.