Monasterio de Santo Domingo

The Monasterio de Santo Domingo, founded in 1542, was once the largest and wealthiest religious complex in Central America. The 1773 earthquakes reduced most of it to rubble, and the ruins were left largely undisturbed until the 1990s, when a luxury hotel was built within the restored compound. The result is an unusual combination: hotel guests sleep in what was once a convent, while paying visitors walk through the archaeological excavations and the attached museums.

The site includes four museums: archaeology, pre-Columbian art, colonial religious art, and a pharmacy museum recreating an 18th-century botica. The underground crypt excavations are the highlight — the tombs were found intact and are displayed in situ, allowing visitors to look down into the colonial burial chambers. The baroque chapel has been restored and is used for events. Whether or not you stay at the hotel, the museums and the gardens can be visited for the price of entry.

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A story
The 1773 earthquakes that destroyed much of Antigua left the Monastery of Santo Domingo in ruins for two centuries. When restoration began in the 1990s, archaeologists found intact colonial crypts beneath the rubble, with the remains of bishops, monks, and colonial-era officials still in place. The excavation is now open to visitors as an underground museum.

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