Santa Clara Street

This street, between Fort Santiago and the Cathedral, takes its name from a convent of Poor Clares founded in 1621 by Mother Jeronima de la Fuente, who came here from Toledo with six nuns (there is a portrait of her by Velazquez in the Prado in Madrid). The site was presented by a wealthy landowner named Don Pedro Chaves. The nuns lived an enclosed life within the shelter of walls 10 m high. The convent was plundered by British forces in 1762 and destroyed during the fighting in 1945. The site is now occupied by warehouses (the port being only a short distance away). The nuns have moved to a new convent in Quezon City.