SAN FRANCISCO CONVENT MUSEUM

Simplicity and robustness

Founded by Father Fray Esteban Rincón in the year 1552, The Convent of San Francisco offers us an approach to the religious life of the Viceregal Arequipa, its simplicity and solidity in terms of its architecture are in line with the Franciscan austerity and it is precisely this which gives it a special beauty.

The visit of its cloisters gives us a vision stopped in time, fundamentally in the aspect that the city must have had in the viceregal era.

Among the environments of the convent, the Chapter House stands out, where the presence of a Genealogical Tree of the Franciscan Order is predominant, where the most conspicuous representatives and founders of the three orders that San Francisco de Asís founded are represented: The Poor Clares, the Third Order and the San Francisco proper.

The Pinacoteca that exhibits pictures of mestizo painting, particularly from the Cusco school and some canvases attributed to the Zurbarán painter.

An interesting fact is the images of the Virgin of Guadalupe brought by the religious of Mexican origin Fray Francisco de Guadalupe Mujica, who in the middle of the 20th century developed a notorious artistic career as a singer and actor, who, feeling the call of vocation, departs from artistic life and comes to fulfill his ministry in Peru, in cities such as Lima, Cusco and Arequipa. In this museum there is a room dedicated precisely to the life of this unique religious character.