Directly ahead, you’ll spot the Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena by its pink-and-white facade, classical columns, and wooden doors, standing proudly on the corner where the sunlight gleams off its triangular pediment.
Welcome! Take a deep breath, and imagine the air humming with centuries of whispered prayers and clattering footsteps echoing off these stone streets. The Monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena, right in front of you, is more than just a beautiful building-it’s a living legend, one of the oldest and most mysterious women’s cloisters in Quito. Its story begins over 430 years ago, when Doña María de Silíceo, a determined and devout woman, decided Quito needed a place just like this. Back then, the city was gripped by the turmoil of the “Revolution of the Alcabalas”-a perfect time for a bit of divine intervention!
Now, picture the year 1592. The streets are lined with mud and stone; the air smells of wood smoke and hope. Originally, this monastery stood between the busy plazas of Santa Clara and San Francisco-prime real estate, right by the city’s pulsing heart. Its first home stretched from what we now call Rocafuerte Street to Bolívar Street, and the entrance faced the vast Plaza de San Francisco. Behind it, gardens flourished, chickens clucked, and, I imagine, a few sneaky cats hunted for morsels.
The community of nuns, under the rule of Saint Dominic and dedicated to Our Lady of Peace, quickly grew. By 1597, there were 19 professed sisters-not counting novices, who were probably up to some holy mischief. In 1601, this convent was officially accepted into the Dominican Order. The news traveled all the way back to Rome, where a general chapter nodded its approval.
But, as all good tales go, the monastery soon needed a new home. In 1613, it moved to where you’re standing now-between Flores and Espejo streets. These walls were first humble adobe, but by the late 1600s, they’d transformed into solid stone and mortar, with the roof replaced more robustly in 1794. The site itself once belonged to Lorenzo de Cepeda, brother of the mystical Spanish saint, Teresa of Avila, so you could say holiness runs in the bricks!
What’s that? You think the story’s over? Not even close! Jump forward to the 1800s, and the revolutionary José Ascásubi Matheu built a tiny chapel right next to the monastery, thanking the Virgin for helping him escape the notorious massacre of August 2, 1810.
But wait, there’s a twist shrouded in mystery. After Ecuador’s president Gabriel García Moreno was assassinated in 1875, his followers hid his body to protect it. For a century, no one quite knew where his remains had ended up. That is, until 1975, when the persistent Sister Mercedes Quintana noticed a stone slab with some curious initials: G.G.M. She had stumbled on the sanctuary’s greatest secret-part of the president’s remains had lain hidden in this very church, right near the altar, for one hundred years before being moved to the grand Cathedral.
Today, the monastery isn’t just home to ancient secrets. Its recently restored church gleams with Baroque treasures, and inside, the Santa Catalina Museum displays over 100 artworks-paintings and sculptures, some created by master hands… and some by mysterious, uncredited artists lost to time. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll hear soft hymns or the nuns bustling as they craft herbal medicine, anti-wrinkle creams, turrón treats, or that legendary guava jam. Yes, even the most pious souls can’t resist a good dessert!
The sisters still watch over the place, holding catechism classes and maintaining recipes as old as the city itself. So while you’re here, give a silent hello to all those generations of women who turned prayer, resilience, and a touch of magic into Quito’s living history.
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