Convento de San Felipe de Neri, Sucre

The Convent of San Felipe de Neri, in Sucre, Bolivia, was built in the 17th century. It is the ostentatious expression of the power of the Catholic Church in the flourishing American society. From its terraces, amidst its colonial-style tile-roofed domes and its towers and bell towers built with silver ornaments from the mines of Potosí, one can appreciate the imposing panorama of the city of numerous churches, built one on almost every block during the colony.

The spectacle is enhanced by the roofs of the colonial houses, all with red ceramic tiles and their carved wooden balconies from which bunches of red flowers hang over the narrow cobblestone streets of the city.