Cajamarca - Complejo Belén / El Conjunto Monumental Belén

Some of the best colonial architecture in Cajamarca is found at the El Conjunto Monumental Belén. This complex of colonial buildings, built in the 17th and 18th Centuries by the Bethlemite religious order, was intended as a hospital for local Indians. Today it houses a medicinal museum and an archeological museum.

While these buildings resemble churches they were actually hospitals with chapels. The Iglesia Belén was never completely finished but has an extremely impressive baroque façade. The former men's hospital was operational until the mid 1960s. Looking in this building it is hard to imagine something so archaic was used in such modern times. The women's hospital across the street has a unique façade, with a carved, four