Lima - San Francisco Monastery and Church 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.