Day Two - Mexico City, Templo Mayor

From the balcony to our hotel room at the Gran Hotel on the Zocalo, you can just see the Templo Mayor. The historic complex of the Templo Mayor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Archaeologists discovered it under the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral in the mid-1900s and excavated it in the 1970s. It is amazing to discover that under the hustle and bustle of modern Mexico City lies the ruins of the pre-Hispanic Aztec capital, once known as Tenochtitlan. At the center of this ancient empire was the Templo Mayor, one of the most important religious area for the Aztecs. When the Spanish Conquerors arrived, they destroyed the temples and built over the Aztec empire and the great temple of Tenochtitlan. You can see sections of the two main religious temples (dedicated to the god of war and rain god), pyramids, serpent carvings, and shrines. Templo Mayor was built of stone and covered with stucco and polychrome paint, some of which remains today. The archeological site has been peeled back like layer of an onion to expose the previous pyramids - each layer made larger by subsequent rulers. It is a fascinating place to visit and the museum is well worth your time. 

Map showing the site

Cortez drawing of the temple

You can see the different layers of previous pyramids

Bench carvings in the Eagle Warriors building