Twenty-nine Dominican nuns centuries ago took vows of silence, wore crowns of thorns, and slept in rough wool habits on wood platforms to demonstrate their adoration of God, isolated from the rest of the world. (Remember, the Dominicans started the Spanish inquisition.) And, they made extraordinary mole poblano in a kitchen here in the Santa Rosa convent encased in talavera tile. Talavera was imported by the Spanish to Puebla as part of their Moorish inheritance. Moor (Arabic) craftsmen were brought from Spain to help build this city. The original tiles in this kitchen have three marks on the face of each, indicating where they were supported in the kiln by small pieces of clay, stacked for the firing. This is a spectacular grand finale to a convent museum tour offered only in Spanish. The museum collection contains ceramics, textiles, furniture and households items, marriage chests, polychrome trees of life, and other
indigenous and Spanish artifacts. The tour is guided and the cost is minimal. It is worth the hour visit just to get to the kitchen, and there is a special room devoted to the best quality talavera ceramics in the city.
