Santa Catalina Arch Over Calle del Arco, Antigua Guatemala

The Santa Catalina Arch spans Calle del Arco in Antigua Guatemala, linking a former Santa Catalina convent to a school on the opposite side of the street. Cloistered nuns had the arch built in 1694 so they could pass between the two buildings without being seen in public, a practice tied to their order's vows of seclusion. A clock was added to the structure in the 19th century. Antigua served as the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala until a series of earthquakes in 1773 destroyed much of the city, leading the Spanish crown to move the capital to present-day Guatemala City. UNESCO named Antigua a World Heritage Site in 1979 for its preserved Spanish Baroque architecture and colonial street grid.