Santo Domingo is the oldest church still standing in Arequipa — the current building was finished in 1677 — and one of the best examples of the mestizo baroque style that local stonemasons developed by mixing Spanish patterns with native Andean motifs. The main portal is a riot of carved sillar: vines, parrots, and stylised faces of Inca origin, all wrapped around the conventional saintly figures.
The interior is more austere, but the side chapels contain a handful of important colonial paintings of the Cuzco school. The Dominican brothers still maintain the convent and the small parish operation; the convent's open cloister is sometimes accessible during the day.