the inscription "Santa Catalina Ora Pronobis, 1749". Facing Bolívar Street (to the west) there is a bell with the inscription “R.M. María de Villegas, 1787”. Church Beautiful and old church with a long nave and a semicircular dome, which has a basic floor plan construction of approximately 1660. Its main altar is made of embossed silver that represents a very careful work, with beautiful and delicate religious motifs, by the old craftsmen who were entrusted with the work. In it we find interesting rooms for the confessors of the nuns who were in closure. Likewise, there is a beautiful altar dedicated to Blessed Sister Ana of the Angels Monteagudo. There is a large metal fence between the church and the lower choir, which is where the nuns were located and continue to do so for the celebration of Holy Mass, to separate the enclosure from the outside world. In the upper part is the high choir where there is a large and ancient European organ of beautiful manufacture. Inside you can see the cloister of Blessed Sister Ana of the Angels Monteagudo, who was beatified due to her exemplary conventual life and the attribution of some miracles. Art gallery of the monastery Approximately 400 colonial art pieces. The main works are exhibited in a majestic setting: two immense rooms with high vaults, arranged in a cross, in which the stucco has been removed, leaving the walls in ashlar. To the side another smaller vault completes the architectural unit dedicated to the museum. In culture The Santa Catalina monastery features in some detail in the second half of The Book of Human Skin by Michele Lovric. Patrick Leigh Fermor visited the monastery on 27 August 1971, and wrote of his impressions in the third of his Three Letters from the Andes (1991). Gallery See also List of colonial buildings in Arequipa Ana de los Angeles Monteagudo References External links Monastery of Santa Catalina website Sources Lonely Planet Peru (2004). Charlotte Beech and Rob Rachowiecki. Lonely Planet Publications. External links Santa Catalina Official Site (Spanish & English) Photos of Santa Catalina Monastery (English) Roman Catholic churches in Arequipa Roman Catholic churches completed in 1680 Towers completed in 1748 1579 establishments in the Spanish Empire Christian monasteries in Peru Dominican monasteries in Peru Religious organizations established in the 1580s Christian monasteries established in the 16th century Spanish Colonial architecture in Peru 17th-century Roman