La Recolección Architectural Complex, Ruined Recollect church and monastery in Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala.

La Recolección is a ruined Recollect church and monastery in western Antigua Guatemala. The church lost its rear wall, most of the presbytery and the crossing in the 1773 earthquakes, leaving large masses of masonry inside; the cloisters, library and infirmary, finished in 1708, stand around a park.

Two Recollect missionaries arrived in 1685, and after the city council refused them in 1695 a royal decree of 1700 authorised the monastery. Construction began in 1701, the church was inaugurated on 23 May 1717, and the Santa Marta earthquakes of 1773 ruined it; the friars moved to the new capital in 1775.

The complex belonged to the Order of the Recollects, whose missionaries Jorge de la Torre and Antonio Margil de Jesús arrived from Querétaro in 1685. After the 1773 Santa Marta earthquakes the friars moved to Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción, carrying their relics; many silver pieces were later stolen by troops of Francisco Morazán in 1829. The site is now a protected national monument surrounded by parkland.

You can explore the monastery grounds and cloisters during daytime and photograph the large stone structures. Most areas are accessible, but be prepared for uneven floors and steps.

The opening earthquake scenes of Jack Nicholson's 1982 film The Border were shot among these ruins. Photographer Eadweard Muybridge also recorded the site in 1875, and comparing his images with older engravings shows the front facade had already fallen forward.