As an introduction, this gallery presents key events related to the founding of the city of Puebla and provides the sociopolitical context in which the creation and heyday of the city's convent complexes took place.

The rapid social acceptance of these religious centers is revealed by the high number of New Spanish women interested in leading a contemplative life of absolute enclosure. Data on their founding, social acceptance, and their implications in daily life and enclosure within the convents of New Spain are shown through graphics that support the work documenting the different religious orders.

The community of nuns gathered in this room for the "chapter," the plenary meeting where they discussed the functioning and challenges of the convent, as well as the organization of saint festivals. In this meeting, the hierarchy of the convent was revealed: the prioress, or head of the institution, assigned the duties and responsibilities of each nun.

The prioress assigned a nun to be responsible for the library, who, in addition to keeping the books clean and organized, was also in charge of lending them. Nuns would request books to consult in private, either in the courtyard or in their cell. This library contains choir books and music, popular hymns for the Virgin and other saints' festivals, religious and moral instruction books, catechisms, and novenas. There are also sermon books, religious and devotional poetry.

The convents of New Spain required special architecture that met the needs of the nuns who lived in them, as well as those of the faithful who attended the temple. The peculiarity of these buildings lies in the presence of choirs, square-shaped architectural spaces large enough for the nuns to listen to and participate in religious services without being seen by the congregation.

The lower choir represented the threshold for the nuns' lives, as they received the novice habit there. It was also the threshold to their death, as it was home to the crypt and ossuary. Access was through the interior of the main cloister and via the spiral staircase leading to the upper choir. Nuns would go to the lower choir to attend mass after the first hour of the day.

This rectangular-shaped choir features a series of niches for sculptures or reliquaries, and at the back, there is an altar in the neoclassical style. Above the grille, which stretches from wall to wall under the main arch, is a large wooden latticework screen carved in a "fan" shape that fills the half circle. It was common for such lattice screens to be made of wrought iron or even to have silver reliefs. Generally, a large canvas would cover the half circle with an oil painting, with the latticework on either side. In this convent, there was a simpler grille than the one in the lower choir, but it was still covered with fabric panels that allowed the nuns to see the mass from inside.

The choirs were an essential part of the temples of nuns: the convent's very life began in these spaces. The Divine Office was started in the upper choir with prayers at the first hour of the day. The nuns, in community, would arrange themselves in chairs or benches placed around the perimeter. Throughout the day, they would return to this space to continue their prayers in accordance with the liturgy of the hours.

This thematic room houses 14 oil paintings illustrating the life and death of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and Doctor of the Church, whose teachings form the basis of the rules of the order.

Due to their "miraculous" nature, relics were and still are considered a protection against evil and a means of seeking the intercession of a saint before God. The Santa Mónica collection preserves a number of relics, evidence of the practices and beliefs of the nuns who lived in this convent, as well as of the society to which they belonged.

The purpose of this room is to show the close connection, during the colonial period, between literature and imagery. The production of the painted works on display here responded to the Church's need to spread models of exemplary lives for the faithful to imitate. These representations were promoted by both hagiographers—writers of the saints' lives—and by the artists.

This gallery displays large paintings that reflect the early artistic development of the city. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, foreign painters such as Simón Pereyns, Luis Lagarto, Diego de Borgraf, and Pedro García Ferrer, as well as New Spanish artists Cristóbal de Villalpando, Juan Correa, and Miguel Cabrera, settled in Puebla. Here, they worked on numerous ecclesiastical and civil commissions, marking a trend in the local artistic production.

The artistic consolidation of Pascual Pérez, Juan de Villalobos, José del Castillo, Luis Berrueco, and Juan Correa (most of them from Puebla) marked the end of the 17th and early 18th-century style. These artists painted for temples and convents according to the devotional practices of each order; for instance, images of Saint Rita of Cascia and Saint Thomas of Villanova were commonly seen in Augustinian convents, while Saint Catherine and Saint Thomas Aquinas were typical in those of Santa Catalina.

Advancing into the 18th century, José Patricio Polo, José Ortiz, Miguel Cabrera, José de Páez, Andrés López, and Miguel Jerónimo de Zendejas abandoned the chiaroscuro technique and incorporated softer colors into their compositions. Zendejas' series on the life of Saint Augustine showed this chromatic transition.

In this gallery, there is a series of large paintings from the early 19th century depicting episodes from the life of Christ. The particularity of these works lies in the technique used by their artist, Rafael Morante, originally from Cholula, who employed oil on velvet to create an effect of movement and perspective.

The images displayed in this gallery depict various episodes from the life of the Virgin Mary. These works, primarily painted by local artists, reflect the devotional practices unique to Puebla and are a testament to the pictorial tradition that adorned the walls of churches and convents in the city.