Located at the southeast corner of the Plaza de Armas, the Compañía de Jesús is the church that most faithfully captures Arequipa’s so-called “Mestizo” architectural style, defined by the Bolivian scholar Teresa Ginsberg as “a form of the Baroque that emerged in the Viceroyalty of Peru (…) consisting of the application of its own idiosyncratic decorations to European structural forms.” Like many of the city’s Colonial buildings, it had to withstand the battering of multiple earthquakes. As a result, although its construction began quite early (in 1578), it was not inaugurated until 1698. “La Compañía” is also a symbol of the Plateresque in South America, a typical architectural style of the Spanish Renaissance. This can be seen in the elaborate ornamentation of the church’s façade. The retablo or main altar is made with gold leaf; in the middle is a painting of the Madonna and Child attributed to Bernardo Bitti. The Chapel of San Ignacio is also noteworthy for its decorated cupola. Beside La Compañía are two cloisters that once housed the Colegio de Santiago school and are now one the main tourist attractions in the city’s historic center.