Templo Mayor travel guide

Don't miss this interesting Temple

Behind the cathedral, Mex-Templo Mayor, at the corner of the streets Argentina and Guatemala, ruins of the Tenochtitlán temple region were excavated years ago and then left alone. In 1978, Metro construction workers found a cut stone. The stone turned out to be a round disk with a diameter of about 3.25m/10.7ft and a weight of 8,500kg/18,700lbs, the relief on the disk an artistic rendition of the decapitated and dismembered goddess Coyolxauhqui. This find triggered new excavations. Up to this point, archaeologists had anticipated that the remnants of the major pyramid (Grand Teocalli) would be underneath Mexico City’s main square, but now they knew to look for the ancient religious and political centre of the Aztec Empire around the place where the disk had come to light. The temple pyramid had once been the sacred ceremonial centre of the Aztec city. On its top platform towered two temples, the temple of the rain god Tláloc (facing north) and (facing south) the temple of the supreme deity Huitzlopochtli, god of sun, wind and warriors; Aztec priests addressed these, the two most important gods, at these sacred temples. A Chac-mool figure with its colouring still intact was discovered in front of the Temple of Tláloc. The size and material of the temple walls suggest that these structures were built before the Aztec established their rule, in 1428, over the Valley of Anáhuac. Spaces between structures from different construction periods contained the skulls of sacrificed humans and many other sacrificial items. It is interesting that only a fraction of the more than 7,000 finds are actually of Aztec origin, most of them originating from the regions of other Indian tribes. They were most likely the tribute paid to the Aztec by subjugated tribes to be used as sacrificial offerings to the gods when a newly built pyramid was dedicated.
A circular path through the excavation site also skirts the zone of the feathered warriors where excavations have exposed the remnants of the eagle warriors’ accommodation with many polychrome reliefs.

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