Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
afield, and his style was widely imitated. The paintings here form the single biggest collec-
tion of his work, and range from his earliest efforts to the series of portraits of the Evangelists
he produced shortly before his death in about 1730.
Coins and minting machinery
The third part of the tour returns to the ground floor and the massive halls in which silver
was processed and coins minted. The
Numismatic Room
is filled with coins minted in Po-
tosí. The earliest silver coins - known as
macuquinas
- were crudely made using hammers
and primitive die stamps. Later coins, produced with more advanced machinery, have regular
edges and clearer detail. More interesting are the massive wooden
laminadoras
, or rolling
mills, used to press the silver into thin sheets from which the coins were punched. These
huge, intricate and perfectly preserved machines - once powered by mules or African slaves
- are the only examples of Spanish engineering of their type and era still in existence.
The smelting rooms
The tour concludes in the
smelting rooms
, where the silver was melted down before rolling
- one of these has been preserved, complete with furnaces and crucibles. Other smelting
rooms now house a haphazard collection of carved retables from some of Potosí's churches,
plus other displays including a collection of arms and uniforms, archeological and geological
finds, and silverwork.
La Torre de la Compañia de Jesús
Calle Ayacucho • Mon-Fri 8am-noon & 2-6pm, Sat 9am-noon & 2-6pm • Bs10
A block west along Calle Ayacucho from the Casa Real de la Moneda stands the bell tower
of
La Torre de la Compañia de Jesús
, which is all that remains of a Jesuit church ori-
ginally founded in 1581. Completed in 1707, the grandiose tower is one of Bolivia's finest
eighteenth-century religious monuments and a sublime example of the mestizo-Baroque
style. Climb to the top of the tower for panoramic
views
of the city and Cerro Rico. To get
in, go up the stairs inside the tourist office building, whose sloping mirror-glass front reflects
the tower perfectly from behind.
Convento-Museo Santa Teresa
At the western end of Calle Ayacucho • Mon-Sat 9am-12.30pm & 3-6.30pm, Sun 9am-noon & 3-6pm •
Guided tours Bs21 (up to 2hr), camera Bs10
The
Convento-Museo Santa Teresa
is a beautiful colonial church and convent worth visit-
ing both for its fine collection of colonial religious painting and sculpture, and for a some-
what disturbing insight into the bizarre lifestyle of nuns in the colonial era. Visits are by
guided tour only, so get here at least an hour before closing. Built between 1686 and 1691 by
the order of Carmelitas Descalzadas, the convent thrived on donations from rich mine own-
ers, and once sprawled over several city blocks. It's now greatly reduced in size, and much
of what is left has been converted into the museum, though some areas are still reserved for
