Convento de La Merced

The Convento de La Merced is identified by its vibrant yellow and white façade, which is covered in dense, intricate plasterwork known as ataurique. Completed in seventeen sixty-seven by the architect Juan de Dios Estrada, this structure was designed to endure the region’s frequent seismic activity. To achieve this, the architect lowered the building's height and incorporated thick walls and heavy buttresses, features that helped it survive the major Santa Marta earthquakes of seventeen seventy-three.