Guatemala Guide
Antigua
Church of San Francisco
Address: 1 Avenida Sur
Opening time: Daily 8am–6pm
The imposing church of San Francisco is one of the oldest churches in Antigua. Dating from 1579, it grew into a vast religious and cultural centre that included a school, a hospital, music rooms, a printing press and a monastery. The church originally boasted highly decorative mouldings and sculpture along its nave, but these were ruined by earthquakes and were left off during restoration in 1960. Inside the church is the tomb of Hermano Pedro de Betancourt, a Franciscan from the Canary Islands who founded the Hospital of Belén in Antigua and is credited with powers of miraculous intervention by the faithful – hundreds of little plaques give thanks for his services, while Pope John Paul II made him Central America's first saint in 2002. The ruins (US$0.40) of the monastery are among the most impressive in Antigua, and you're welcome to picnic next to the colossal fallen arches and pillars on the pleasant grassy verges.