Convento y Museo de San Francisco

Top choice in Along the Río Paraná


Santa Fe's principal historical landmark is this Franciscan monastery and museum, built in 1680. While the museum is mediocre, the church is beautiful, with an exquisite wooden ceiling. The lovely cloister has a real colonial feel and is full of birdsong and the perfume of flowers. The monastery is still home to a handful of monks.

On your left as you enter the church is a fine polychrome Christ by grumpy Spanish master Alonso Cano, sent as a sympathy gift by the Queen of Spain when the town moved in 1649. By the altar, a stone marks the tomb of a priest killed by a jaguar taking refuge in the church during 1825 flooding.