La Merced Convent
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Sun 29 Jul 2012 22:37
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The Ruins of La Merced Convent
We paid our forty one pence entry
through the arches to the left of the
church
Then through the
massive doors
We passed the
original door to the church and found ourselves in a
long passageway - to the
left........
...........the
enormous Fuento de Pescados
Just some
of the detail
The
Mercedarians
were the first to establish a male monastery at the former Santiago de
Guatemala. The monastery was totally destroyed by the Santa Marta quakes,
and never rebuilt. Within the ruined cloister stands the Fuento de Pescados (Fountain of
the Fish), reputedly named for the fish-breeding experiments done there by the
Mercedarian brothers, is the largest of Antigua's many fountains, with a
diameter of over eighty feet.
We bimbled up the
staircase and could imagine how grand it would have been in its heyday.
From the top we began to get a feel of just how huge this
building was.
Bear with La
Merced Church behind, over the fence he is holding we could
see..............
.............into
our school and a few doors down another school
with what looks like garden sheds ???
The ‘garden sheds’ turned out to be
tuition rooms. We don’t fancy those one bit, (where
we are at Don Pedro’s we may have our own tutors but at least we can see each
other). However hot must these cubby-holes get when the sun is blazing, and
let’s not think about the mosquitos. One benefit – their garden has huge avocadoes and oranges.
We bimbled through an archway and found a very smart
hallway with several well appointed classrooms. Must find out who uses them.
Some
of the views
I got Bear to nip down and from this angle it’s
easier to get an idea of the size of this spectacular fountain which was constructed in the 18th
century and partially restored in 1944.
Back down the stairs and
out – time to go and look in the church
ALL IN ALL JUST
MASSIVE
PRETTY GOOD SHAPE CONSIDERING
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