5 Beautiful Spanish Ruins to visit in Antigua, Guatemala
When my family traveled to Guatemala, I was super excited to get to hike the volcanoes and learn more about the unique geology of the area. After all, Guatemala is known for its volcanoes. But almost as soon as we arrived in Antigua it became apparent that there was much more to explore than just the volcanoes.
Culture, cuisine, and agriculture are all on full display throughout Antigua, and there were plenty of amazing experiences there, but the thing that caught my eye from the start was the amazing variety and beauty of Antigua’s Spanish Colonial ruins.
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Convento Santa Clara
Convento Santa Clara was the first set of ruins that we visited on our trip to Guatemala and the reason that this list exists. It was our first full day in Antigua, and we went for a walk to see what was nearby. Less than a block from our Airbnb, we stumbled into Convento Santa Clara.
From the street, it honestly doesn’t look like much. A small door led inside to a booth where we paid. But once we had entered the ruins themselves, we were overwhelmed by the beauty.
Construction on Convento Santa Clara finished in 1705 to house just a handful of nuns, but it eventually grew to house as many as 50 nuns before its destruction. The convent was damaged both in Antigua’s 1717 earthquake and again in the major earthquake in 1773. By 1776 the convent was damaged enough that the nuns abandoned it.
While Santa Clara’s historical importance may be less than some of the others on this list, they were some of my favorite ruins that we visited, and I can’t shake the sense of wonder I felt exploring them for the first time.
San Francisco
One of our friends suggested the San Francisco ruins as a place to let our kids explore, due to their extensive gardens, and we are glad to have found them.
Unlike el Convento Santa Clara, San Francisco still has an active Church presence, and regular Catholic Masses are held there. The entrance to the ruins themselves is past the entrance to the cathedral and through a small arched entrance.
The earthquakes that toppled San Francisco’s architecture were thorough. Throughout the ruins, the red of exposed brick competes with the greenery of the gardens that now fill the space.
There are plenty of crevices and cracks to explore, and my kids loved climbing the tumbled columns. I loved strolling through the shaded gardens on the grounds to admire the diversity and beauty of the plant life.
The overall experience was one of peace and calm. It makes San Franciso an excellent location for introspection and a retreat from the hot sun.
Arco de Santa Catalina
El Arco de Santa Catalina is probably the best-known structure in Antigua, and one of the most unique. It was constructed as an add-on to the Santa Catalina monastery when the nuns there expanded their property by purchasing the building across the street. The nuns needed a way to access the new property but were restricted from simply crossing the street outside because they were cloistered.
The solution was building the Arco de Santa Catalina! It has an open hallway in its interior that allowed the nuns to cross from one building to the other without ever stepping outside the convent’s walls. Today, it is all that remains of the original structure.
Its unusual story and unique construction have made it into one of the most well-known architectural pieces in Antigua.
San Jose el Viejo
San Jose el Viejo was one of the principal cathedrals of Antigua in its day. Its prominence was shown through its location directly on Antigua’s central square. The building itself remains magnificent, even in ruins.
While much of the original cathedral is open to the sky, a few of the original domes of the cathedral remain. They provide a small taste of the building’s original majesty. There are also 12 smaller chapels lining the edges of the main nave of the cathedral, adding their own beauty to the ruins.
One of my favorite things about the ruins is actually outside of the ruins themselves. The nearby Las Tartines restaurant has a wonderful terrace overlooking the ruins. It gives an entirely different perspective on them, and gives you more than just your thoughts to chew on.
Taken as a whole, these ruins are magnificent and well worth a visit.
Casa Santo Domingo
La Casa Santo Domingo has a lot going for it. The grounds are beautiful, with well-kept gardens and large open spaces. The ruins themselves are interesting, as well. We saw what was left of the kitchen area, with 4 fireplaces right next to each other. There were also catacombs and an ossuary which, unlike the catacombs in the other ruins in town, had the skeletons of former residents on display.
Alongside the ruins located on the grounds, there are several specialized museums, including a colonial art museum, a glassworks museum, and a silver museum! They also have a popular restaurant and hotel, in case you want to really take your time seeing everything they have to offer.
Antigua is a city filled to the brim with amazing history. And thanks to its many earthquakes, it is also a city overflowing with tragically beautiful ruins. While I loved and appreciated each of these 5 sets of ruins that we visited in our time there, I know that there is tons more for my family to discover when we return.
