Belmond Palacio Nazarenas

Belmond Palacio Nazarenas is a hotel in a former convent built on Inca walls at the centre of Cusco, Peru. It is located in a small square, close by the Plaza de Armas and the city cathedral. The hotel stands on the site of a former Inca building and reuses stones that may have been used in the original construction. Shortly after the new building's completion as a private home in the mid 1500s it had a succession of owners, including the famous warrior and gambler Mancio Serra de Leguizamón. In 1644 the Jesuits acquired the property and used it as a school. In 1650 Cusco suffered a devastating earthquake and the building required extensive repairs. It continued as a school until 1673, before being sold to a private owner in 1687. In 1715, it was turned into "beaterio", a type of convent for what was considered to be a "lower order" of nuns. Its occupants came from families of the native aristocracy, rather than immigrant Spanish clergy. The nuns never received the level of funding enjoyed by the "higher orders", and therefore the building's fabric remained simple at best. A church was built within the complex, which the public were allowed to visit. On such occasions the nuns sat in screened enclosures that still stand today. Although this church is no longer permanently consecrated, it is still used for religious worship, weddings and secular gatherings. A mezzanine area abov

Hotel data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).