Iglesia de Santo Domingo, Dominican church building in Old Town, Ecuador

Iglesia de Santo Domingo is a Catholic church and convent on Flores Street, facing the Plaza de Santo Domingo in Quito's Historic Center. The church has ten side chapels with cedar woodwork covered in gold leaf, and the Chapel of the Virgin of the Rosary stands on three levels above the Arch of Santo Domingo. The cloister has double-arched corridors with octagonal pillars.

Construction began in 1540 when the site was assigned to the Dominican order; the definitive plans were drawn by Francisco Becerra in 1581, and the church was completed by Friar Juan Mantilla in 1688. In the 19th century, President García Moreno brought Italian friars to reform the local Dominicans, and they removed the main altarpiece, the high choir and much of the Baroque decoration, installing instead a low choir and a Neo-Gothic altar.

The Rosary Chapel, south of the transept, is built on three levels: the lowest for ordinary citizens, the middle for priests and authorities, and the top for the Virgin of the Rosary. From 1650 three brotherhoods used it, of peninsular Spaniards and criollos, of Black artists and mestizos, and of indigenous people, each with its own small chapel space.

The building sits on uneven ground, so its levels have different access points; a supporting arch helps maintain structural stability. Visitors should expect to navigate varying floor heights when exploring the interior and chapels.

The Arch of Santo Domingo is not a bridge but a built arch whose base carries the street Rocafuerte without interruption, and the Chapel of the Virgin of the Rosary stands on top of it. Its cone-shaped buttresses resemble watch posts. The arch was the answer to the uneven ground that the church and its chapels had to span.