Santa Catalina Arch

You are standing in front of the most photographed image in Guatemala. The Santa Catalina Arch has spanned the Calle del Arco since 1694, and behind it, on a clear day, rises the Volcán de Agua, 3,760 metres high.

But the arch was not built to be beautiful. It was built so that nobody could see the nuns. The convent of Santa Catalina Mártir, founded in 1613, grew so much that it bought the house across the street for its school and orchard. The problem was the street itself: cloistered nuns were forbidden from being seen in public.

The solution was this covered bridge. Inside the arch runs an enclosed passage through which the nuns crossed from one side to the other without setting foot on the street or exchanging a glance with the city. Look at the small windows of the passage: they were the only link with the outside world.

The clock on the tower is much younger than the arch. It was added around 1830, half a century after the city was abandoned as capital following the Santa Marta earthquakes of 1773.

Antigua was the third capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala, a territory stretching from Chiapas to Costa Rica. It was founded in 1543 as Santiago de los Caballeros, after a torrent of water and mud came down the Volcán de Agua and destroyed the previous capital.

Tap the 3D view to see the arch as it looked around 1700, joined to the convent on both sides and without its clock. And if you open the window to the past, you can overlay that image on the street in front of you.