Iglesia Museo Santa Clara

The Iglesia Museo Santa Clara, at Carrera 8 No. 8-91 in La Candelaria, Bogotá, Colombia, is a single-nave church built between 1619 and 1647 for the Poor Clares. It was secularised in 1968 and has operated as a museum since. The exterior is plain, but the interior is one of the most richly decorated colonial spaces in the country, with almost every surface covered in gilt polychrome decoration.

Visitors enter a long, narrow nave whose walls are hung with 148 paintings and more than 100 sculptures, still arranged as they were in the colonial period. A coffered mudéjar ceiling of gold rosettes rises above, and carved altarpieces and lattice screens once separated the nuns from the public. The result is the best-preserved colonial interior in the city, and the density of gold and colour can be overwhelming at first. Audio guides and staff explanations give context on the convent, the artists and the religious symbolism.

A typical visit lasts about 45 minutes. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00AM to 5:00PM, with last entry at 4:30PM, and is closed on Mondays. Admission is COP 6,000 for adults aged 18 to 59, COP 4,000 for ages 13 to 17, COP 2,000 for ages 6 to 12, and free for children under 6 and visitors over 60. Entry is free on the last Sunday of each month and on Wednesdays from 3:00PM to 5:00PM.

Late morning is the best time, when daylight reaches the gilded ceiling and the colours are at their strongest. Crowds are usually light, apart from free-entry days when local visitors arrive in numbers. The church is four blocks south of the Plaza de Bolívar along Carrera 8, so it fits easily into a walking route with the cathedral and the Museo del Oro. Photography rules should be checked at the entrance, and visitors should keep voices low and avoid touching the artworks.