The Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena is a large monastery of the Dominican Second Order, located in Arequipa, Peru. This is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historical Centre of the City of Arequipa". Location The citadel was located in the south of Peru in the city of Arequipa, founded on September 10, 1579 and located in an area that stands out for its natural beauty, welcoming climate and that has a great material with which the architecture of this city is built and continues to be built, the tuff. In the monastery there are two types, the white tuff, which comes from the Chachani volcano, and the pink one from the Misti, the latter emblem of the city. The citadel occupies an area of 20,000 square meters, "it constitutes a true and small city, characterized by its multitude of streets, somewhat tortuous, broken and narrow." And is completely isolated from the city, despite being located in the heart of it. A great and solid wall of 4 meters of height isolated the life of the women who inhabited the monastery. Historical review Viceroy Francisco de Toledo grants the necessary license for the foundation of the much-desired monastery that applied for citizenship. Doña María de Guzmán, widow of Diego Hernández de Mendoza, decides to seclude herself in the monastery under construction, giving up all her assets. On September 10, 1579, the memory of the foundation of the monastery was made, signed by the Cabildo, the city regiment and the bishopric of Cusco, naming María de Guzmán as the "First settler and prioress of said Monastery". On October 2, 1580, date on which the first monastery was completed, a high mass is held in the city so that from that day the habits will be taken. Its first facilities were destroyed in 1600 and 1604 by earthquakes, but after these the community of Santa Catalina experienced a definitive rebirth, thanks to the entry of many catalinas of high lineage, from rich Arequipa families of that time, its current building corresponds to the last third of the 17th century. The women who entered the monastery as nuns were white criollas and mestizas belonging to wealthy families. The story tells of the income of the so-called "poor nuns" who, without having money to pay a dowry, entered to exercise their virtues. It is known that, in the middle of the 18th