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Published: April 27th 2019
Pyramid of the Sun
The main attraction at Teotihuacan is a spectacular pyramid, Pyramid of the Sun. Try to spot the people who are climbing to get to the top or those who stand on the top looking down at us. They look small, don't they?Three historical sites with very strange names
After we came home I started to plan the blogs and how I could tell what we were up to the weeks we were in Mexico. In order to avoid some blogs to become too large I decided to pull out some photos and present them in separate blogs. Here is one of those. This blog will be focused on some historical sites.
The three sites I am going to write about here are Teotihuacan, Tula and Tenochtitlán. The historical sites in Mexico have some strange names. I am lucky that I only have to spell them right and nobody expects me to pronounce them correctly.
Teotihuacan -
Teotihuacan is one of the most spectacular historical sites in all of Mexico. To be honest, it is so spectacular that it actually ranks pretty high even in an international perspective. It is located conveniently close to Mexico City. The main attraction at Teotihuacan is a spectacular pyramid, Pyramid of the Sun. It is 65 meters high and covers an area similar to four soccer fields. This pyramid is so large that it actually is difficult to
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Sun and some other structures of Teotihuacan grasp its size even after having seen it.
At Teotihuacan there is one other really big pyramid - Pyramid of the Moon. It is somewhat smaller that the other pyramid but is still impressive.
At Teotihuacan there are also remains of many other smaller structures. The various ruins of Teotihuacan are spread out over a very large area. So large that anyone who wishes to see all of it will need to spend an entire day at the site. We didn't though. We were quite happy after having seen the most important structures. My mother actually climbed to the top of Pyramid of the Sun. That's quite impressive of her!
Tula - The site
Tula is further away from Mexico City than Teotihuacan. It is possible to visit it from Mexico City, we saw that tour operators arrange day tours, but it will probably be a very long day going there and back and see the entire site. We visited Tula while we were on our little tour of central Mexico.
Tula has several structures. Among them two pyramids and two ball courts. The two highlights, at least for me, in Tula
Pyramid of the Sun
Pyramid of the Sun as seen from Pyramid of the Moon were
• four large statues that stood on top of one of the pyramids and
• the ruins of a palace. The columns that used to hold up the roof still today stand in their original formation and are lined up in perfect symmetry.
Tenochtitlán - This is a small site in rather poor condition but it is of great historical importance. Tenochtitlan is the name of a city that was located where Mexico City is today. Pretty much all of this city was torn down and destroyed by the Spanish. Much of the building material was then used to build the palaces, churches and other buildings that today can be seen in Mexico City. During excavations in the central city some remains of the palaces of Teotihuacan were uncovered. Some of the colonial buildings that stood on top of these remains were pulled down and the ruins of old Teotihuacan were laid bare. They are today on display next to a museum.
Many of the Central American pyramids are constructed in layers. They did this by first building a small pyramid. Then some years later they built a new pyramid on top
My mother on top of Pyramid of the Sun
My mother on top of Pyramid of the Sun with Pyramid of the Moon in the background. She made it all the way to the top. That is quite impressive of her. of the first pyramid completely covering it. Again later a third pyramid was build using the previous two pyramids as foundation. After six or seven generations the pyramid resembled an onion as it was built in layers. This layered structure is clearly visible in the ruins of the temples of Teotihuacan. It was interesting to see.
If you are interested in other historical sites you might wish to also have a look at two of the previous blogs from Mexico. We have there written about
Xochimilco and
Cholula, two sites which both are historical sites which predates the arrival of the Spanish.
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Daniela Rößler
non-member comment
Ein sehr schöner interessanter Bericht....schöne Bilder ....ganz liebe Grüße...