Iglesia San Miguel is one of the smaller and less visited churches of Sucre's centre, tucked into a corner of Calle Arenales a couple of blocks west of the cathedral. The Jesuits founded it in 1621 as part of their college complex (the same college that would become the University of San Francisco Xavier three years later) and the carved stone portal above the main door is one of the finest examples of mestizo baroque masonry in the city — leaves, fruits, angels, and the sun and moon symbols that Andean carvers liked to weave into Christian imagery.
The interior is small and dim, with a single nave and a modestly gilded altar. The church is usually only open for early-morning mass and the half-hour around the evening service; if the door is shut, just walk around the block and admire the portal from outside. It is the kind of building that rewards a closer look — the colonial story written in stone above your head.