Half a block from the Plaza Mayor, on the corner of Jirón Ancash and Jirón Lampa, there is an architectural complex that from the outside seems like just another colonial church. The intense yellow Baroque façade with its two towers and carved stone portals is spectacular, but what makes the Convent of San Francisco one of the most visited places in Lima is not on the outside but underneath it. The catacombs are underground galleries where more than 25,000 people were buried during the colonial period, and seeing them in person is an experience that no photograph or description can fully prepare you for.
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History of the convent: from the Franciscans to a World Heritage Site
The Franciscan order received this land from Francisco Pizarro in the act of Lima’s founding on January 18, 1535. Construction of the final church began in 1546 with modest buildings that the 1655 earthquake almost completely destroyed. The order’s commissioner, Francisco de Borja, then commissioned the Portuguese architect Constantino de Vasconcellos to rebuild it following plans by the Peruvian architect Manuel de Escobar. The first part of the work was inaugurated on October 3, 1672, and the complex took on its approximate current form in 1729.
In 1988, the monumental complex, which includes the three churches of San Francisco, La Soledad, and El Milagro, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of Lima’s historic center. That designation makes it, together with the Cathedral, the most important colonial religious site in the city.
The façade: Limeño Baroque at its finest
The main façade of the complex is one of the finest examples of Limeño Baroque, a regional variation of European Baroque that developed in Lima during the 17th century by adapting local materials and climate conditions. The yellow color of the façade, the ornamentation of the portals with floral and geometric motifs in carved stone, and the two towers with their spires create an image that is practically the symbol of Lima’s colonial historic center.
Limeño Baroque differs from the Andean or Churrigueresque Baroque found in Arequipa or in some churches in Cusco by its greater restraint in ornamental detail and by the use of white ashlar stone and coated adobe as the main materials instead of the black volcanic stone of southern Peru.
The tour through the convent
The tour through the interior of the convent and the catacombs lasts approximately 45 minutes and is conducted exclusively with a guide in groups that depart on a first-come, first-served basis. Groups are in Spanish or English depending on the guide available at the time of entry.
The tour begins in the antechamber, a transitional space with tiled baseboards and a triptych of the Crucified Lord. From there, visitors move to the porter’s lodge, where there is a wooden sculpture of Jesus Crucified and paintings from the 17th-century Lima school alongside pieces from the Cusco school. The contrast between those two styles, one more influenced by Flemish painting and the other with its own Andean characteristics, is one of the first details the guide explains.
The Vestibule of the Immaculate Conception has a carved wooden ceiling and Sevillian tile baseboards that are the original 17th-century ones, brought from Seville to decorate the convent at the time of its construction. Those tiles are one of the most valued elements of the interior because of their craftsmanship and state of preservation.
The main cloister is a square courtyard surrounded by galleries with semicircular arches, eleven on each side, supported by pilasters. The scale of the cloister, with its two levels of galleries, gives a true sense of the convent’s size and of the institutional weight the Franciscan order had in viceregal Lima.
The library is one of the most important spaces on the tour. It houses approximately 25,000 volumes, including incunabula, colonial manuscripts, and 16th-century editions, including a 1571 Bible that is one of the oldest pieces in the collection. The library was the most important Franciscan center in the Viceroyalty, and its collection is one of the most valuable in South America in terms of colonial religious and philosophical books.
The Hall of De Profundis is the space where the Franciscan friars carried out funeral rituals before burial. Its Latin name, which refers to Psalm 130 beginning with the words De profundis clamavi, and its sober, unadorned atmosphere prepare the visitor for what comes next.
The catacombs
The catacombs are on the underground level of the convent and are the feature that makes this place a visit unlike any other in Lima’s historic center. They were used as a cemetery from the 17th century until 1810, when the colonial authorities banned burials in churches for sanitary reasons. During that time, approximately 25,000 people were buried in these galleries: members of religious brotherhoods, Franciscan friars, notable citizens of colonial Lima, and people who paid for the privilege of being buried in consecrated ground beneath a church.
When Presbítero Maestro Cemetery opened in 1808 as Lima’s first municipal cemetery, burials in churches began to decline and were eventually banned. The catacombs were sealed and forgotten for more than a century until they were rediscovered and opened to the public.
The underground galleries have several sections that the guide walks through with the group. The most striking feature is the five wells approximately ten meters deep where the bones are arranged geometrically: skulls stacked over femurs in circular patterns that, seen from above, create visual designs somewhere between artistic and unsettling. This is not a modern staging but the way the bones were reorganized when the space available for new burials gradually decreased over time.
The temperature in the catacombs is noticeably cooler than outside, which is a relief in summer, but in Lima’s winter months between June and September it can make the tour feel cold. Bringing an extra layer is useful regardless of the time of year.
Visitor rules
Inside the catacombs, photography and recording in any format are not allowed. The guide reminds visitors of this before the descent begins, and the rule is applied consistently. The reason is both out of respect for the human remains being visited and for the conservation of the space in light of the cumulative impact of camera flashes. In the rest of the convent, photography is allowed in most areas.
The tour is not recommended for people with severe claustrophobia because the corridors are narrow and in some places the ceiling is low. It is also not suitable for very small children or baby strollers because the stairs leading down to the catacombs are narrow and poorly lit. Footwear should be comfortable because the uneven stone floor has changes in level at several points along the route.
Hours and prices
The convent is open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9 in the morning to 6 in the evening. On Sundays, tourist access is from 1 in the afternoon to 6. The last group of the day enters early enough before closing to complete the full tour. On holidays, schedules may vary.
Admission for adults costs 15 soles. University and technical students pay 8 soles with a valid student ID. Schoolchildren and children pay 3 soles. The price includes the guided tour. Payment is made in cash at the ticket office, although cards are accepted during some periods. It is a good idea to bring cash in soles to avoid any inconvenience.
The passageway legend
One of the stories that has circulated among guides and visitors for generations is that one of the doors in the catacombs leads to an underground corridor connected to other churches in the historic center and even to the Government Palace several hundred meters away. It is an urban legend without archaeological confirmation, but the guide usually mentions it in the appropriate tone for a space where history and mystery coexist without needing anyone to separate them.
At Peru Sites, we coordinate your days in Lima as part of plans that connect your airport arrival with your flight to Cusco and your visit to Machu Picchu. The Convent of San Francisco and the catacombs are part of the most recommended morning in the historic center, together with the Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral.