San Francisco Convent Ruins Garden, Antigua Guatemala

The Convento de San Francisco in Antigua Guatemala was founded by Franciscan friars in 1579 and grew into one of the largest religious complexes in colonial Central America, with a church, cloisters, and schools built around courtyard gardens like this one. The 1773 earthquake that devastated Antigua left much of the convent in ruins, and the site was largely abandoned after the capital moved to present-day Guatemala City. Hermano Pedro de Betancourt, the Franciscan friar canonized in 2002 as Guatemala's first saint, lived and worked at the convent and is buried in the adjoining church, making the complex a pilgrimage destination to this day. Restoration work over the past several decades has stabilized sections of the ruins and reopened the gardens and stone walkways to visitors.

Photo taken in February 2020.