Peru - Arequipa - The White City
December 20th, 2007 by Farmer Dave
Arequipa, located in southern Peru, is that nation's second largest city. It is also the capital of the Arequipa Province, and is 633.8 miles from Lima. The city lies in the highlands at the foot of the snow-capped volcano El Misti. El Misti is currently inactive, but erupted strongly between 1438 and 1471. Several smaller eruptions have occurred since then, most recently in 1784. Arequipa has over 80 volcanoes which can be found in the Valley of Volcanoes.
Arequipa has many fine colonial-era Spanish buildings built of sillar, a pearly white volcanic rock used extensively in the city, and from which it gets its nickname La Ciudad Blanca ('the white city'). The historic centre of Arequipa was named a UNESCO world heritage site in 2000, in recognition of its architecture and historic integrity. The city is located at an altitude of 2,380 meters (7740 feet) above sea level. El Misti is located beside a bigger volcano Chachani 'the Beloved' and the peak Picchu Picchu 'Top Top' - both named in the Quechua language of the ancient Inca Empire.
Peru - Arequipa - Monasterio de Santa Catalina
December 20th, 2007 by Farmer Dave
The Monasterio de Santa Catalina is a cloistered convent located in Arequipa, Peru. It was built in 1580 and was enlarged in the 17th century. The over 20,000-square-meter monastery is predominantly of the Mudejar style, and is characterised by the vividly painted walls. There are approximately 20 nuns currently living in the northern corner of the complex; the rest of the monastery is open to the public.
Built with sillar, the white volcanic rock that gives Arequipa the name of the White City, and ashlar, petrified volcanic ash from Volcan Chachani overlooking the city, the monastery was closed off to the city, but much of it is open to the intensely blue sky over the southern Peruvian desert.
In 1970, when the civic authorities insisted the monastery install electricity and running water, the now poor community of nuns elected to open the greater portion of the monastery to the public in order to pay for the work. The few remaining nuns retreated to a corner of their community and the remainder became one ofthe prime tourist attractions in Arequipa