Outside Villa de Leyva rests the Monastery of Santo Ecce Homo, founded by the dominican monks in 1620. The guided tour of this jewel of colonial architecture is a must. Most of the beautiful artwork of the time was covered by white ash due to a dangerous outbreak (this was in the XVII or XVIII century.... not sure exactly). Only recently, restoration work has begun to remove the paint and uncover the precious frescos from that time.