Templo Mayor

Lonely Planet review

The Teocalli of Tenochtitlán, demolished by the Spaniards in the 1520s, stood on the site of the cathedral and the blocks to its north and east. It wasn't until 1978, after electricity workers happened on an eight-ton stone-disc carving of the Aztec goddess Coyolxauhqui, that the decision was taken to demolish a block of colonial buildings and excavate the Templo Mayor.

The temple is thought to be on the exact spot where the Aztecs saw their symbolic eagle, perching on a cactus with a snake in its beak - the symbol of Mexico today.In Aztec belief this was, literally, the center of the universe.Like other sacred buildings in Tenochtitlán, the temple, begun in 1325, was enlarged several times, with each rebuilding accompanied by the sacrifice of captured warriors. In 1487 these rituals were performed at a frenzied pace to rededicate the temple after one major reconstruction. By some estimates, as many as 20,000 sacrificial victims went under the blade in one ghastly four-day ceremony.

What we see today are sections of the temple's different phases. (Little is left of the seventh and last version seen by the Spanish conquistadors, built around 1500.) At the center is a platform dating from about 1400; on its southern half, a sacrificial stone stands in front of a shrine to Huizilopochtli, the Aztec war god. On the northern half is a chac-mool (a Maya reclining figure that served as a messenger to the gods) before a shrine to the water god, Tláloc. By the time the Spanish arrived, a 40m-high double pyramid towered above this spot, with steep twin stairways climbing to shrines of the two gods.

Elsewhere in the site, don't miss the stone replica of a tzompantli, carved with 240 stone skulls, or the 15th-century Recinto de los Guerreros Águila (Sanctuary of the Eagle Warriors, an elite band of Aztec fighters), decorated with colored bas-reliefs of military processions.

As you approach the museum, notice the large-scale quotations chiseled on its west walls. These are awestruck descriptions of Tenochtitlán from three of its earliest European visitors - Hernán Cortés, Bernál Díaz del Castillo and Motolinía.

The Museo del Templo Mayor houses artifacts from the site and gives a good overview of Aztec civilization, including chinampa agriculture, systems of government and trade, and beliefs, wars and sacrifices. Pride of place is given to the great wheellike stone of Coyolxauhqui (She of Bells on her Cheek, the Aztec goddess of the moon), best viewed from the top floor vantage point. On the stone, Coyolxauhqui is shown decapitated. According to Aztec mythology, she led her 400 siblings in an attack against her pregnant mother, Coatlicue. But before they could do so, Coatlicue bore Huitzilopochtli (god of war) who hacked Coyolxauhqui to pieces, hurling her head into the sky where it became the moon. Other outstanding exhibits include full-size terracotta eagle warriors.

The entrance to the temple site and museum is east of the cathedral, across the hectic Plaza Templo Mayor, with its model of Tenochtitlán. On the temple site, explanatory text is accompanied by quality English translations, but no translations are provided inside the museum. Alternatively, rent a recorded audio-guide inside the museum, available in English (around $50 ), or hire one of the authorized tour guides (with Sectur ID, around $250 ) by the entrance.