Lima - San Francisco Monastery and Church

(Local Name: Iglesia de San Francisco) The San Francisco Monastery and Church (Iglesia de San Francisco) is most famous for its catacombs, containing the bones of tens of thousands of bodies. This was Lima's first cemetery. Narrow hallways beneath the Church of San Francisco are lined on each side with bones. In one area, a large round hole in the ground is filled with bones and skulls arranged in a geometrical form, like a piece of art. If mass is taking place upstairs the sound reverberating through the catacombs is very eerie.

The library, on the upper level, has thousands of historical and antique books and documents. The San Francisco Monastery also has an impressive collection of religious art. It is probably best known for a mural of the last supper depicting the apostles dining on guinea pig and a devil standing next to Judas. The San Francisco Monastery and Church was consecrated in 1673 and is one of the best preserved colonial churches in Lima. It withstood the earthquakes of 1687 and 1746 but did suffer extensive damage in a quake in 1970.

Visiting the catacombs may be a problem for those who are claustrophobic. The ceiling is very low and the doorways from one chamber to the next are very small, requiring people to duck down to enter. It's also like a maze, with poorly lit hallways leading in different directions. However, the catacombs are visited at the end of the tour and visitors can decide to wait out the underground portion at the top of the stairs near the open courtyard.