Convent of Santo Domingo, Lima

Convent of Santo Domingo, Lima tickets: which one to buy

A modest ticket covers the church, the cloisters, the chapter house and the tower, and guides are usually included or ask a small tip. The tower climb, about 200 steps up the eighteenth-century bell tower, gives a view over the roofs of colonial Lima and is the best part of the ticket. Walking tours of the historic centre include the convent along with San Francisco and the cathedral and cost several times the entry;

the two convents are five minutes apart and are usually done together, though San Francisco has the catacombs and this one has the better cloister. The convent is in the centre near the Government Palace, and the area is policed and easy by day. Nothing needs booking. The entrance is on Camana street rather than on the main facade, which is easy to miss.

Visiting Convent of Santo Domingo, Lima: what to see

The Dominicans were given this plot when Pizarro laid out Lima in 1535 and the convent took fifty years to build. Its first cloister is lined with Sevillian azulejos of 1604, laid in geometric blue and white patterns to the height of a person, and it is the finest colonial tilework in the city. The University of San Marcos, the oldest in the Americas, began its teaching in these rooms in 1551. Three Peruvian saints are connected with the house: Rose of Lima, Martin de Porres and John Macias, and the skulls of the first two are displayed in a side chapel of the church, which is startling to visitors who wander in unprepared.

The library holds twenty-five thousand volumes. The pink bell tower, rebuilt after the 1746 earthquake, is the most photographed object in the old city after the cathedral. A chapel holds the tomb of Rose of Lima, the first saint canonised in the Americas, and pilgrims leave written petitions in a box beside it. The chapter house has a coffered ceiling of Nicaraguan cedar, and the second cloister is planted with orange trees and is normally empty of visitors.

Convent of Santo Domingo, Lima opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from mid-morning to late afternoon, with a shorter Sunday schedule and closure during services. Lima's fog season from June to October dulls the light in the cloisters; the summer months from December to March are bright and hot. Weekday mornings are the quietest. The tower is closed in strong wind. Dress modestly for the church. Photography is allowed in the cloisters and restricted in the chapel of the relics.

Allow an hour, ninety minutes with the tower. The Plaza Mayor is three minutes away and the San Francisco catacombs five, which makes a straightforward morning on foot. The convent is a working Dominican house and parts of it close without notice when the community needs them. Peru's Santa Rosa holiday on 30 August fills the church and the surrounding streets with pilgrims from across the country.