Convento y Iglesia de San Pedro Claver
Cartagena's most impressive religious building, the church's yellow dome is an icon of the city skyline, and the carved stone facade dominates the small plaza below that is surrounded by restaurants and often filled with street vendors and musicians. Constructed at the beginning of the 17th century, the cool, peaceful interior centers around the lush green courtyard of the cloister, most of which is open to visitors, including a small museum that displays African and Haitian art and a variety of religious relics. To the right is the rather austere church, dominated by an ornate altar, which also holds the bones of San Pedro Claver, for whom the building and plaza are named. Claver was a Spanish Jesuit monk who spent 40 years in Cartagena—visitors can also enter the cell where he lived—dedicated to healing and ministering to the tens of thousands of slaves who passed through the port annually. Known as the "Slave of the Slaves," he was canonized in 1888, the first in the new world to receive this honor. There is some information in English, but we recommend hiring an English-speaking guide at the ticket office.
