Plaza San Francisco

This guide to Plaza San Francisco in Cusco follows Juan Espinoza de los Monteros, a painter working in the city through the mid-1600s, who was asked in 1655 by Franciscan friars to fill a cloister staircase wall. What he produced was an entire genealogical tree of Saint Francis of Assisi, branching out with monks, bishops and martyrs claimed by the order, painted alongside his own son over what felt like a lifetime of tiny faces and inscriptions. The guide also traces how the plaza itself changed from open ground into the garden you see today, framed by the Arch of Santa Clara. Stand facing the plain colonial facade before you learn what it's hiding inside.