One of the most fascinating colonial sites in Antigua. Las Capuchinas, the Capuchin Convent, was completed in 1736 under the direction of Diego de Porres, the city's chief architect. Today the convent is partially intact and partially in ruins. The intact portions house a museum and offices for the National Council for the Protection of Antigua Guatemala.
The ruined sections include baths for the nuns and an unusual circular area containing novice cells, each with its own privy. Below this circular patio is a mysterious subterranean chamber that resonates on certain notes — nobody seems to know its original purpose. The ruined nave of the chapel, roughly 120 feet long, can be viewed from the nuns' choir loft on the second floor. From up there you get a clear view of the twin volcanoes Fuego and Acatenango.
The stubby tower near the entrance is actually a chimney for the refectory kitchen on the ground floor. Such chimneys are called linternas for their resemblance to old-fashioned candle lanterns.