Convento de Capuchinas, Antigua: Circular Tower, Upstairs Museum and Two Timetables

Capuchinas runs on two clocks: CNPAG, the council that administers Antigua’s monuments, opens the convent itself Monday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:00, but the museum on its upper floor keeps Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 16:00, according to both CNPAG’s museum page and the Ministry of Culture’s SIC directory.

In short: Capuchinas is the convent of the Capuchin nuns at 2ª Avenida Norte and 2ª Calle Oriente, designed by Diego de Porres in 1731 and founded in 1736, the last religious house founded in the old capital. Its circular tower, cloister, church and garden are part of CNPAG’s daily circuit; the upstairs museum of colonial art and archaeology, restored with funding from Taiwan, opened to the public on 14 May 2009. Foreign tourists pay Q.40.00 (CNPAG, undated, read 10 November 2026). The other visitor categories are on our Antigua ruins entry-fees page.

The two timetables, side by side

All rows read 10 November 2026. Two official listings agree on a weekday museum; only the museum-association directory, edited earlier, prints weekend hours. A Saturday or Sunday visit gets you the convent, but plan the collection for a weekday morning or early afternoon. CNPAG does not say on its services page whether the Q.40.00 monument ticket includes the museum; SIC lists museum tariffs of Q5.00 for nationals and Q40.00 for foreigners, the same figures as the monument tariff.

A convent founded last, and built to a plan

CNPAG’s museum history dates the building to 1731, when the master architect Diego de Porres designed it, and calls it the last religious building founded in the city, in 1736. The foundation, under a royal certification of Felipe V, was the convent of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza, known as Las Capuchinas. Its five founding nuns came from the Capuchin convent in Madrid in 1725.

The earthquakes of 1773 damaged the church, but CNPAG says the convent itself stayed intact. The nuns moved to the new capital, Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, by royal order, taking altarpieces, doors and other goods with them; CNPAG says some of those pieces are still kept in the Capuchinas church in Guatemala City.

After the nuns: coffee patios and a dye works

The building’s later life is visible in its fabric. According to CNPAG, the convent was put to different uses, fell into neglect, and was authorised for sale in 1814. On the upper floor the walls of the nuns’ cells were knocked down to turn the space into patios for drying coffee; a dye works operated in the circular tower; and other areas were used as housing and for planting.

CNPAG’s monument-use page files its Capuchinas photo galleries under three headings, which make a sensible order for a walk-round: the cloister, the church (templo), and the circular tower and garden. The same page links a downloadable plan of the complex.

The museum upstairs

The museum is the result of restoring the upper floor. CNPAG says the Republic of China (Taiwan) funded the restoration under a heritage-conservation donation agreement signed with Guatemala in March 2006; CNPAG carried out the work with the Ministry of Culture and the Universidad de San Carlos, under the supervision of Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University. The aim was to show colonial art, archaeology, ethnography and contemporary art in a building restored to its original character.

SIC gives two dates: the museum was inaugurated on 25 July 2008 and has been open to the public since 14 May 2009. It counts about 80 pieces from the 16th to the 19th century, in materials that include pre-Hispanic ceramics, colonial majolica, stone and wooden sculpture.

CNPAG’s outline of the displays reads as a route through the floor:

• Opening sections on La Antigua Guatemala, the council, and the Taiwanese cooperation.
• Archaeology, then separate areas for ceramics, for metals and stone, and for stucco.
• Colonial art arranged by subject: the Trinity and the Archangels; Saint Joseph and the Holy Family; Jesus Christ; the Virgin Mary; the Immaculate Conception; the Virgin of the Assumption; and the saints.
• Pieces of furniture throughout.

Wall texts are in Spanish, English and Mandarin, according to CNPAG. AMG-ICOM lists guided visits and a library among the museum’s services.

Tickets, rules and the CNPAG office on site

CNPAG’s services page (undated, read 10 November 2026) sets the per-person tariff for its monuments at Q.40.00 for foreign tourists and says fee exemptions are not currently being granted because of the institution’s economic constraints. Alcohol, pets, firearms and bladed weapons are not allowed, nor is any physical exercise inside the monuments.

Capuchinas is also CNPAG’s own address: 2ª Avenida Norte and 2ª Calle Oriente, PBX (502) 78734646. Photographers who book a professional session at any of the five council monuments pay the Q. 1000.00 fee at the Treasury section in Capuchinas, Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 16:00; the fiscal receipt names the day and the monument, and the shoot cannot block ordinary visitors. Requests to use the monument for an event go to CNPAG’s events office, PBX (502) 78734646 ext. 106 or eventoscnpag@gmail.com.

Other convents run by the same council have their own pages: Santa Teresa de Jesús, with its jail years, and Santa Clara. For the wider sightseeing list, see things to do in Antigua; for another collection of colonial religious art, the Museo del Santo Hermano Pedro.

Sources

• CNPAG: Museos, Capuchinas history, Taiwanese cooperation, museum areas, languages and museum hours; read 10 November 2026.
• CNPAG: Servicios, undated monument list, hours, closures, tariff, rules and photography terms; read 10 November 2026.
• CNPAG: Uso de Monumentos, address, plan, galleries and events contact; read 10 November 2026.
• CNPAG: Contacto, telephone and office hours; read 10 November 2026.
• Ministry of Culture, SIC: Museo de Capuchinas, inauguration and opening dates, collection size, hours and tariff; read 10 November 2026.
• AMG-ICOM Guatemala: Museo de Capuchinas, secondary museum directory; read 10 November 2026.