A couple of gems

We have progressed in our Fodor’s Peru travel guide from the “Top Attractions” section to the "Worth Noting” section.  Since these section titles and the content under them are somebody’s personal opinions, we realize we must decide for ourselves.  Thus, we spent part of one day visiting the Carmelite Convent of Santa Teresa and the accompanying museum, and then the next day we visited the Franciscan monastery of La Recoleta.  Each of these places has a gem in its midst.

CONVENT OF SANTA TERESA:

The convent, established in 1673, has always allowed only 21 nuns (even today there are 21 nuns plus 3 novices waiting for a spot in the 21).  The current nuns are still living in a closed, cloister-like environment, so at times, the convent is shielded from the the public to allow the nuns access to the church, etc.

The gem in this museum was at the beginning of our visit when our English-speaking guide explained (with the help of excellent displays) how many of the museum's artistic items were made.  During the tour (no pics allowed), we saw many examples of these craftsmanships along with examples of Cusqueña paintings that contain local flora and fauna in the paintings, along with gold gilding. These art pieces showed stories about the life of Jesus, the origin of the Carmelite order, the importance of Saint Teresa, the usage of scapular, etc.  Indeed the overall intent of the art pieces was as religious teaching aids.

The sign at the entrance to the Convent - the bottom line states "The Artistic Treasure of Arequipa."

A model of the convent and museum.  The church is on the left, the active convent on the right with the museum rooms circling the plaza. As the Carmelite nuns lead a very private life, they exclude themselves from the public to a great extent.

The steps from left to right show how painting is done on stucco-covered sillar.

So how is gold leaf applied in paintings? They painted the area to be covered with leaf with a red glue. After drying, the desired gold leaf remains.

Steps in creating a figure from left to right starting with a block of wood. Note the face mold at the bottom of the picture which allowed many faces to look the same. The final result is clothed with gold leaf textiles.

Steps on gilding a wooden frame. Same technique as illustrated earlier. Use glue!

A view in the inner courtyard with the church tower in the background.  The nuns had two screened-off rooms that "protected" them from the public to partake in the mass.  A special little door allows them to partake of communion.

The passageway within the convent.

THE FRANCISCAN MUSEUM AND MONASTERY:

Both the Franciscan museum and the monastery seem to be in hard times.  The monastery was founded in 1648;  it has been used as a museum since 1978. The upkeep in the buildings is not at the same level as other museums, and we understand there are only two retired monks living there. A number of the rooms were dedicated to various themes, such as pre-Columbian artifacts, Amazon artifacts collected by their missionaries (animals and birds), religious art, an art gallery, etc.   However, this museum also had a gem that we visited at the end of our visit! 

The gem is its collection of antique books.  The collection, containing some 20,000 items, is extremely rare (and valuable).  Digitizing of the collection seems to be a goal.   We were allowed access to the library by a retired gentleman who has worked there for ten years and is originally from Iowa.  We could not read the documents, but we were in awe!

La Recoleta is unique from other churches in Arequipa - it has color!  The image on the right is from the monastery's main court yard with the church steeple in the back ground.

Inner court yard honoring the Franciscan Missionaries.

Our guide and his workshop. We could have stayed longer and quizzed him about many topics, but we hated to keep him from his work.

Some of the over 20,000 books - many are one of a kind.

Examples of individual items (above left is a hymnal with leather pages).

At one time to deter theft, the books were branded with an identifier.  In this case, R for Recoleta. One can clearly see where this book belongs.

A bibliophile enjoys this gem!