On Saturday we were given a guided tour of Lima. We saw all of the old buildings from long ago. Buildings built by Italians, Spaniards, and Americans. We saw a Sheridan built by some Americans but I didn't hear why it is so important in Peruvian history. I think our guide said something about revolution. But the most impressive building we saw was the Convento de San Francisco de Asisi. This church and convent were built all the way back in the 1680s. Really I think they should Convento de los Pigeons. I have never seen so many pigeons in one area. A lot were flying around but you couldn't kick your leg without hitting a few. Of course the Peruvian children loved running through the masses on the ground. This caused all of the pigeons to take off; we were wary of their "bombs." The church had lots of ledges for pigeons to land on, and the multitude of statues and marble scenes the church had. Evidently they employ two vultures to attack the pigeons but the pigeons reproduce more rapidly than the vultures eat. No me gusta. We eventually walked into the atrium. Humorously some women with a board of necklaces tried to infiltrate our group and make it inside. A guard told her to go away. Unfortunately the convent was being renovated so a lot of the religious statues were hidden away. The roof was interesting because, besides being artsy, the panels were held only by pressure. Which makes me wonder if you knocked one down, would they all fall? They had a lot of paintings of benefactors, bishops, and saintly people. All were commissioned around 1685. Old. Very. There was a chapel of sorts dedicated to Mary and the baby Jesus. The interior of the convent was styled like the ones in Spain: open air courtyard that cast a shadow and no exterior windows.
Many of the plants in the courtyard were imported from Spain. We entered one of the many chapels the brothers held prayers in. I believe the first one we crossed was for the elderly who could not make it to the larger one. Nothing remarkable there though I swear we heard that the area to clean yourself was once a bathroom but no one could collaborate this. We went to their library after this. Interesting place. It had lots and lots of ancient books (presumably religious). The typical monastic type of library: lots and lots of shelving to hold all of the books. Floor to ceiling, wall to wall. In the center of the room was a massive book. There was a hymnal book or sorts with the medial drawings. Apparently that was their communal "projection" book for everyone to use. In the main chapel they had a big book stand for it. I couldn't imagine being the guy to drag that thing around all the time. This area was above the church with the newest organ I had ever seen. It was build 1886 or so. This place had little itty bitty seats for when the brothers to rest if they became tired. Comfortable. One of the chapels had placards of all of the martyred brothers. Each one was supposed to represent how he died. Some were holding their head (beheaded), standing on a rock (stoned), or holding mushrooms (poisoned?). Some were hard to understand how they died. Apparently this place was also an active convent but you couldn't tell.
The crypt. A place to bury the dead. And bury they did. Estimated at 50,000 bodies, I wonder if
that was low. The crypt was the first public burial place for the city. But a bad disease swept through the city killing many of the people. The convent was so overwhelmed that they would build/dig a hole, toss a body in, throw some lime on it, toss another in. Our guide said it was 10 meters deep! Originally bodies would be placed with reverence but eventually they were dumping bodies in there. This caused the crypt to be closed around the mid-1800s, as other burial places were used and crypt using fell out of favor. Recently an old brother was buried there (only members of the convent are allowed now). Archaeologists went through to count the bodies and kept discovering new areas. One such area they opened contained something that killed many of the people that were working. They closed it up and forgot about it.
Too bad I couldn't take pictures because was one of the highlights of the trip. Odd to say because there was so much history in this place but that was all we had time to see.
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