El Beaterio de Nuestra Señora del Carmen a la luz de un documento inédito de 1772 y de la arquitectura actual del recogimiento

Abstract

The document, dated 1772 and kept in the Archbishop’s Archives in Cusco, presents a request from María Nicolasa de Christo, preposita of the Beaterio de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, demanding that her beaterio not be converted into a chaplaincy. The tertian describes the beaterio’s institutional and economic situation. Her petition is supported by the testimonies of nine witnesses from Cusco who visited the homes and chapel of the tertian. The witnesses’ descriptions give us a picture of the architecture and decor of the Nuestra Señora del Carmen beaterium in 1772. At the time, it was one of the most important in Cusco. The document serves as a pretext to reflect on the architecture of the beaterios in Cusco and their functions in the urban structure and multi-ethnic society of Cusco. In the 17th and 18th centuries, one can observe the hierarchization of the social structure, which depended on economic status, blood purity or gender, and the beaterias were a response to the need to create a living space for single women, very often lacking sufficient economic resources to support themselves.