Convento de San Francisco

The San Francisco church and monastery are best known for their catacombs, which house the bones of approximately 10,000 people who were interred here when it was Lima's first cemetery. Below the church is a maze of narrow hallways with bones on both sides.

A large round hole in one area is filled with bones and skulls arranged in a geometrical pattern, much like a work of art. If Mass is being held upstairs, the sound echoes eerily through the catacombs. These are not for the faint of heart, as the ceilings are low and the doorways between chambers are even lower, requiring visitors to duck when entering. The catacombs, on the other hand, are at the end of a tour of the church, so you can skip them.

There's a lot more to see here. The upper-level library houses thousands of antique books, and the monastery houses an impressive collection of religious art. It is best known for a mural depicting the Last Supper, with the apostles eating guinea pigs and the devil standing next to Judas. The San Francisco church and monastery were dedicated in 1673, and it is one of the city's best preserved colonial churches, having survived the earthquakes of 1687 and 1746, though it did sustain extensive damage in the 1970 quake.

Google rating: 4.6/5
Address: Jr. Lampa, Lima 15001, Peru
Phone: +51 1 4267377
Website: http://www.museocatacumbas.com/