OUR HISTORY

CENTURIES OF HISTORY IN ONE PLACE

The beautiful colonial building that today houses the exquisite Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa was the scene of the most representative history of Cartagena de Indias.

SANTA TERESA MINOR CLOISTER, JOURNEY THROUGH COLONIAL HISTORY

More than 400 years of history surround the Cloister of Santa Teresa walls.

A striking yellow beam of colonial splendor by day and a softly lit beacon of glamour by night, Hotel Charleston Santa Teresa is without a doubt one of the most beautiful and luxurious hotels in the UNESCO city of Cartagena and all of Colombia.  A regal mix of historic grace and contemporary cool offering warm Colombian hospitality.

Recently renovated, part of this luxury heritage hotel was a 17th-century convent where the colonial -style has preserved invaluable pieces of art in its spacious halls, balconies, and arcades. Every corner of the hotel is surrounded by the typical nature of the region in the indoor vertical gardens that make its Republican and Colonial Courtyards and rest areas an oasis of tranquility.

When Cartagena de Indias, the port of entry to the West Indies, left behind the bahareque structures to gradually become one of the most important port cities of the colonies, Doña María de Barros y Montalvo offered her wealth to erect a convent where spend your last years. On March 24, 1609, the founding act was signed. She wanted the wealthy widow of the society to leave as an inheritance the first cloister of Reformed Carmelite sisters, according to the conservative regulations of Blessed Teresa of Jesus. And so it was, until the convent succumbed in 1861 when it was expropriated, to be definitively abolished in 1863.
The Crown granted authorization by Decree of December 15, 1606. The nuncio of His Holiness in Madrid communicated the papal approval in 1610, so that, shortly after, the widow who wanted to guarantee the spiritual life of her relatives, took the habits and he requested admission to all the women in his family who wished to enter. The doors of the convent were opened for young Spanish women: "the Spanish of the nation ...," "clean of every race suspected of our Catholic faith ...," "virtuous of good reputation and opinion," with the exception of some members of his family of mulatto origin.
The entire inheritance of Doña María was used to meet the needs of the convent: its construction and its maintenance for several years after she passed away. The beautiful colonial building that today houses the exquisite CHARLESTON SANTA TERESA HOTEL was the scene of the most representative history of Cartagena.
During the two decades of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the construction that is known today was finished outlining, since it was in the hands of the Nation, after many uses: from school to military regiment, that the republican building was built. The one that today faces the building because the frontal cloister was demolished, leaving space for the current Plaza de Santa Teresa.
In 1983 the Banco de la República acquired it, which in turn sold it, less than a decade later. After a timely restoration, the Cloister of Santa Teresa was converted into a hotel. On November 1, 1996, the HOTEL CHARLESTON SANTA TERESA CARTAGENA was officially inaugurated.

- Sara Araujo Castro -