Museo Miguel de Santiago :: Convento de San Agustín

The construction of Saint Augustine’s Convent started in 1580 with plans designed by architect Francisco Becerra. One year later he was transferred to Lima to construct the Cuzco Cathedral, so a provisional church was built.In 1606 Juan del Corral was put in charge of the church and convent’s construction which was finished in 1650.

The length of the convent reached the current Plaza del Teatro, involving “La Tola” neighborhood and the “Censo” windmills. Today it covers less than 1.75 acres.

Almost the entire convent is built with stones and rocks from the Pichincha volcano.

Inside the convent there are series of corridors, consisting of nine Tuscan Doric columns, two pilasters and ten cambered arches. Every wall exhibits parts of a collection of 39 canvases 25 belong to Miguel de Santiago, displaying his light/shadow with depre technique.

The Life and Miracles canvases of Saint Augustine, these are based on sketches done in Europe by Boswell and were concluded in 1666; all almost the complete collection has been preserved. There are also 12 anonymous canvases attributed to the Quito School from the 17th century and two canvases painted by Luis Cadena, a 19th century artist. His paintings display his great size artwork.

The Eastern corridor has a Mudejar styled ceiling, implementing geometric figures with hanging pine fruits. It has a series of floral decorations and gold leaf. This style was also used in the four corridors. But in 1895, due to a confrontation between the Liberals and the Conservatives, the convents were turned into military quarters and the ceiling was used for target practice, destroying all of the

beautiful decoration.

The Eastern corridor also houses the Chapter Room. The interesting structure of the high cloister, or second floor, is different to the first cloister. It has 20 smaller Tuscan columns and lower arches.

The third floor was built in 1943 with the same structural details but was constructed with cement instead of stone and glass. The objective for this construction was to give an overall architectural equilibrium to the whole building and to provide sleeping quarters.

The convent has one colonial style garden with a central fountain. Construction started in 1659 and complements it took ten years. The fountain was built with 41 stones on a square base and one rock for the central plates, which holds a sculpture representing the Augustine simbology (lion = strength, child = nobility). This construction was directed by Basilio de Ribera.