Ruins of San Francisco Convent, Antigua Guatemala

The San Francisco Convent in Antigua Guatemala was founded by Franciscan friars in 1579 and grew into one of the largest religious complexes in colonial Central America, complete with a church, cloisters, a school, and an infirmary. Earthquakes battered the structure repeatedly, most severely in 1773, when the disaster prompted Spanish authorities to relocate Guatemala's capital to what is now Guatemala City. Much of the convent was never fully rebuilt, leaving the roofless walls and archways that still stand today as a protected historic site within Antigua's UNESCO World Heritage zone. The nearby church, rebuilt in the 20th century, holds the tomb of Hermano Pedro de San José Betancourt, a Franciscan friar canonized in 2002 and widely venerated across Guatemala. Volcán de Fuego and Volcán Acatenango rise beyond the ruins, part of the chain of active and dormant peaks that ring the Panchoy Valley where Antigua sits.

Photo taken in February 2020.