The church and former seminary at Tepotzotlan, two masterpieces of Mexican baroque overachievement, are reason enough to visit this town, but also housed within the lavish complex is perhaps the county’s finest colonial art museum. Tepotzotlan itself, with a population of 50,000 and less than an hour’s drove north of Mexico City, is a breath of fresh air after the congested capital.

In the adjoining edifice, the Museo Nacional del Virreinato has a fantastic collection of three centuries of colonial and folk art: paintings jewellery, ecclesiastic accouterments, porcelain, ivory statuettes, and other treasures. Capilla Domestic is a chapel covered floor to ceiling in gold leaf and carved polychrome stucco. More museum exhibits are located on the second storey; on the lower level are the kitchen, pantry and cold room, temporary exhibits, and the gift shop.