This beautiful preserved convent from 1603, used to be the "Centro de Estudios del Real Colegio Secular de los Agustinos de San Ildefonso" and the "Convent de las Monjas Recogidas" (the Convent of the "Quiet Nuns"). In September 1918 the "Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes" (School of the Beaux-Arts) was founded and after five months of restoration the school was officially opened in April 1919.
The current facade of the school was designed in 1924 by the famous Spanish sculptor and architect Manuel Piqueras Cotolí, who came to Lima in 1920 to teach at the "School of the Beaux-Arts". The brick wall is beautifully decorated with a mixture of pre-Hispanic and Colonial motives. Inside you find an amazing illuminated patio with impressive arcades.