Ceiling of the Cloister of San Juan

The temple and former convent of San Juan Evangelista in Coyoacán are well known. However, people who enter the courtyard of the former convent rarely look up to find one of the best-kept secrets in the tourist center of Coyoacán.

In two of the four corners of the patio, the baroque coffered ceiling of the convent still survives. The decorations are made with wood, paint, and some fragments are colored with gold foil.

Most of the boxes are allusions to the Dominican order that occupied the convent. The most detailed portion is the section located in the opposite corner of the entrance. There are boxes with allusions to Catholicism such as the lamb, the angels, the seraphim, and the chalice.

At the center is the moment of the beheading of Saint John the Baptist. But perhaps, one of the most curious boxes contains a dalmatian dog on the side of a church, perched barking at the sky on a book.