Gran templo en el centro ceremonial de Tenochtitlan, la capital del reino de los aztecas. Tenochtitlan was the most important city in the Aztec, or more properly Mexica, empire and with a population of between 200,000 and 300,000, one of the largest cities in the world when Hernan Cortés arrived in 1521. The Templo Mayor (Main Temple) in Tenochtitlan, capital of the mighty Aztec empire, was located in the center of the city, where the most important ritual and ceremonial activities in Aztec life took place.Standing about ninety feet high, the majestic structure consisted of two stepped pyramids rising side by side on a huge platform. Existieron muchas grandes pirámides antes de que se estableciera el Imperio azteca y estas pirámides fueron declaradas sagradas por los aztecas y utilizadas como templos. Podría esconder una tumba real. The grand temple was constructed of twin pyramids and stood 90 feet high. A stone serpent at Templo Mayor in modern-day Mexico City. La historia del templo azteca, al igual que otros aspectos religiosos y culturales de la vida azteca, se extendió mucho más allá del imperio azteca. And three, the tzompantli invoked a powerful reminder of the Aztec empire’s reach and might. And the god Tlaloc, who was a rain and agricultural deity. The Metropolitan Cathedral was built on top of Templo Mayor to signify the conquest of the Spanish, but more and more of the Aztecs’ history is coming to light. Se encontraba en el centro de la ciudad donde las actividades rituales y ceremoniales más importantes de la vida azteca tomaban lugar. However, the Aztec people dislike the ruler for his constant demand for tribute → when the Spanish invaded, the people turned against him, leading to … El Templo Mayor de los Aztecas, Ciudad de México. There, priests used obsidian blades sharper than present-day surgical steel to slice into the vertebrae of the neck to decapitate the victim. They can see Aztec artifacts: stone statues, obsidian knives, and the skulls of sacrificial victims. It was a central gathering place in Aztec life within the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the once-thriving and sophisticated empire, and was thus also the center of religious life. Aztec legend claimed that Coyolxāuhqui plotted against her mother, only to be killed by her brother, Huītzilōpōchtli (“wit-si-lo-poch-tli”), the Aztec god of sun and war — and one of the deities honored at Templo Mayor. In fact, the great temple was located in an area of Tenochtitlan that historians refer to as the ‘Sacred Precinct’. [1] El responsable de la masacre fue Pedro de Alvarado —apodado Tonatiuh, El Sol por … The Aztec Empire was a civilization in central Mexico that thrived in the time before the arrival of European explorers during the Age of Exploration . The on-site Museo del Templo Mayor (included in the site’s admission price) houses a model of Tenochtitlán and artifacts from the site, and gives a good overview of Aztec, aka Mexica, civilization, though with little signage in English, unlike the ruins. He brought guns, which meant his troops could easily overpower the Aztec warriors. Tenochtitlan, la capital del Imperio azteca, fue fundada en un islote hacia 1325. Could such a thing exist? The area was once the epicenter of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan -- a gruesome site where human sacrifices were performed to honor the gods. De acuerdo a la leyenda de la cultura azteca, el Templo Mayor ubicado en la ciudad de Tenochtitlán, se encontraba exactamente emplazado en el lugar donde el dios Huitzilopochtli envió a los mexicas la señal de que habían encontrado la tierra prometida, es decir, el águila sobre un cactus de nopal devorando a una serpiente. Descubre qué secretos esconde. Pero lo que más les admiró fue el recinto ceremonial del Templo Mayor. 01-nov-2014 - “The seven major building phases of the Templo Mayor began with a simple structure, probably dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, built in 1325 when Tenochtitlan was founded.” Artist's depiction of Tenochtitlan with Templo Mayor on the left. The Spaniard had a significant advantage over the Aztecs, who, at first, took him to be the god Quetzalcoatl. El multidisciplinar Proyecto Templo Mayor, puesto en marcha aquel mismo año, se marcó el ambicioso propósito de reconstruir la cultura de la capital del Imperio azteca… Then, they removed the skin and muscles, and the priests drilled holes on either side of the cranium. Templo Mayor is an Aztec archaeological site and museum located in the heart of Mexico City. At the center of the city was the main Aztec temple-pyramid called Templo Mayor. It was dedicated to two gods, Huitzilopochtli, god of war, and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture. Learn its history and important visitor information. Templo Mayor, however, was built upon a steady patch of landfill and is sinking at a much slower rate. Now imagine a complex even bigger, formed by over 70 structures with taller pyramids - this is Templo Mayor! Then, check out how the ancient Chinese sacrificed puppies instead of humans. FlickrThe Spanish estimated that the wall of skulls they came across in the 16th century featured 130,000 severed heads. To the Aztecs, Cortés may have seemed to possess godly might. En 2006 , un gran monolito de Tlaltecuhtli , la diosa que puede dar y devorar la vida, también fue desenterrado del Templo Mayor. Saturday, January 19th, 2019. A las 10:00 horas, nos encontraremos en la puerta del Museo del Templo Mayor en Ciudad de México para dar comienzo a un viaje al pasado. She is also the Editor in Chief for history-first.com, An Inside Look At V-J Day And The End Of World War 2, From The Joyous To The Ugly, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. A Spanish soldier named Andrés de Tapia claimed the rack held tens of thousands of skulls “placed on a very large theater made of lime and stone… many heads of the dead stuck in lime with the teeth facing outward.” Tapia calculated that the wall held 136,000 skulls, but this has long been considered an exaggeration. On any given year, the Aztecs sacrificed thousands — some estimate that the Aztecs sacrificed up to 20,000 in a year — in their determination to appease the gods. As the rest of the city drops around it, Templo Mayor will rise. Por ejemplo, la Gran Pirámide de Cholula comenzó a construirse en el siglo III a. C. y se completó en el siglo I… En su breve recorrido por el Templo Mayor, recinto sagrado de los mexicas, el señor de Huexotzingo seguramente se estremeció al contemplar, muy cerca del templo del Sol naciente, el Huey Tzompantli. Gran templo en el centro ceremonial de Tenochtitlan, la capital del reino de los aztecas. Believing they owed a debt to the gods, the sacrifices were meant to appease and satisfy the deities that controlled the weather, the bounty of crops, and the happiness of the civilization. One pyramid represented Tlāloc, the Aztec god of rain; the other honored Huītzilōpōchtli, the god of sun and war. Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan, the Coyolxauhqui Stone, and an Olmec Mask . FlickrA stone serpent at Templo Mayor in modern-day Mexico City. El Templo Mayor es un espacio sagrado dual que incorpora las dualidades centro-periferia. One Spanish chronicler noted that “all the wonders” of Tenochtitlan “were overthrown and lost, nothing left standing.”. It was actually closer to 700. For example, by the early 16th century, Tenochtitlan is estimated to have been three to five square miles (eight to thirteen square kilometers), and have a population of between 200,000 and 300,000 people. Desde entonces, se han hecho más descubrimientos, y el templo principal del pueblo azteca ahora es un museo y un sitio de Patrimonio Mundial de la UNESCO. A ditch-digger reached down to wipe the soil from an enormous stone that was 10 feet in diameter and which blocked his progress. Finally, the skull could be fitted onto one of Templo Mayor’s giant skulls racks, called “tzompantli.” Some would remain here; others, after months or years of weathering the elements, would be turned into masks. Today, one can visit a Templo Mayor museum beside Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral. The Sun Stone (The Calendar Stone) Coyolxauhqui Stone. The city of Tenochtitlan equally impressed the Spanish. The Templo Mayor museum contains eight exhibit halls that narrate the history of the archaeological site. 22-feb-2019 - Explora el tablero de Alberto Castilleja "Templo Mayor" en Pinterest. It was believed that these macabre claims were perhaps just propaganda meant to justify the Spaniards’ destruction of the Aztec civilization — until the 2017 discovery proved them to be true. Gamio’s subsequent digs around the property revealed serpents made of stone. “This is really new.”. As crowds below watched, a priest would raise his hands, the sunlight glinting against the obsidian knife he held in his fists. Each had a large hole on either side of the cranium where it was strung like a bead onto a thick wooden pole, creating a literal wall of staring, empty sockets, and dirt-sullied pale bone. For one, it created a public display of human sacrifices. The Templo Mayor was a twin temple, devoted to the Aztecs two main deities. The Aztec Templo Mayor - A Visualization, The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City 2001, ISBN 0-87480-690-9 Alcina Franch, José . Mayor). Museo y Zona Arqueológica del Templo Mayor. The buildings are now ruins located in the center of modern Mexico City. The skulls were not attached to bodies or left in a pile. Although the form of the temple constantly changed, and was rebuilt seven times before Cortés’s arrival, the location remained fixed because it was believed moving the site of the temple would invoke the wrath of the gods. Museo del Templo Mayor: El museo del Templo Mayor contiene ocho salas de exhibición que narran la historia del sitio arqueológico. Typically, Aztec temples were expanded over time by building upon their predecessors, using the preceding building as the base for each larger new one. Sometimes women sacrifices were decapitated and dismembered in imitation of the Coyolxāuhqui myth. The lives lost in service to the creation of this wall would create a grisly complication in the scholarship of Aztec sacrifices. 04-mar-2014 - Temple Mayor (Sun Temple) Aztec city of Tenochitilan. And in the end, it may be the Aztecs who get the last laugh. Universes in Universe. 15-oct-2019 - Explora el tablero de Ana Maria "Templo mayor mexico" en Pinterest. Los Aztecas regían la gran parte de México entre los siglos XV y XVI. Archeologists investigating the site of Templo Mayor in 2017 discovered a rack of almost 700 human skulls, most of them women and children. Wikimedia CommonsThe Aztecs sacrificed humans to appease the sun god. El Templo Mayor era el lugar sagrado donde los aztecas adoraban a Huitzilopochtli y sacrificaban seres humanos a fin de aplacarlo. Shrines stood on the peak of both pyramids, which could be accessed by sweeping stone staircases. Other Spaniards described the Aztec capital in more nightmarish terms. Si deseas consultar otras entradas asociadas a la visita al Museo del Templo Mayor haz clic en la etiqueta Guía al Templo Mayor en la barra inferior. The priest would hold the heart to the sky for Huītzilōpōchtli, the sun god, to see, and then smash it against the sacrificial stone. The form of Aztec sacrifices often varied. Este templo azteca tenía dos tramos de escalones empinados; los constructores diseñaron los escalones para asegurarse de que un cuerpo lanzado hacia abajo cayera directamente al fondo. Conoce el Templo Mayor, centro del imperio azteca (Foto: Shutterstock) El descubrimiento del Templo Mayor en 1978 fue cuando se encontró por accidente una asombrosa escultura de Coyolxauhqui, una importante deidad de los antiguos mexicanos, por obras públicas en el … Today, political dealings continue at Palacio Nacional. La dualidad hombre /mujer, punto de partida de la cosmovisión mesoamericana, en la que ambos se complementan y se necesitan para existir, dando continuidad al ciclo de vida, es el hilo conductor de la exposición temporal "Semillas de vida. Sometimes new constructi… El recinto del Templo Mayor albergaba no sólo el templo doble dedicado a Tláloc y Huitzilopochtli, el cual puede ser admirado hoy en día. AZTEC TEMPLE 'TEMPLO MAYOR'. Ver más ideas sobre Aztecas, Cultura azteca, Prehispanico. 11:00 - 11:45h: El Templo Mayor de los Aztecas. Huitzilopochtli, the god of war and a sun god. Many Spanish accounts claimed as such. The ancient Templo Mayor stood at the heart of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. Una fruslería. Se encontraba en el centro de la ciudad donde las actividades rituales y ceremoniales más importantes de la vida azteca tomaban lugar. Two, it honored Huītzilōpōchtli. Upon hearing of an uprising among Aztec religious leaders, his second-in-command trapped them in a temple during a religious ceremony and sent in soldiers to massacre them. Descargar esta imagen: La escultura Serpiente en templo azteca (Templo Mayor) en las ruinas de Tenochtitlan - Ciudad de México, México - HT74X2 de la biblioteca de Alamy de millones de fotografías, ilustraciones y vectores de alta resolución. It contained 250,000 people, more than any European city of the era. Fue construido en una especie de capas al hacerlo cadavez mas grande 2. When Hernán Cortés arrived in Tenochtitlan around 1519, he would have noticed Templo Mayor right away. Wikimedia CommonsThis map of Tenochtitlan was printed in 1524, just a few years after Cortés conquered the city. The city of Tenochtitlan was built on a bog and as the years pass, Mexico City has begun to sink. Templo mayor 1. The property had belonged to the 16th-century Spanish conqueror, Alonso de Ávila, and historical texts had long claimed that Templo Mayor lay there too. Tomado de Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, “Una visita al Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlan”, Arqueología Mexicana, Especial 56, El Templo Mayor, a un siglo de su descubrimiento, pp. It was obliterated by Spanish invaders in 1521 and has remained dormant beneath the bustling streets of the city above. As the dirt of the ages fell away, he found himself staring at a carving of a woman. In the center of the city, which had about 80 buildings, Templo Mayor loomed the largest. Next, read about the discovery of grisly child sacrifices in Peru. These rulers, and others, each employed the resources and labour given in tribute by neighbouring states in order to build a more impressive monument than their predecessors.The location was chosen with purpose a… However, archeologists studying the teeth of several victims determined that many of those killed spent significant time in Tenochtitlan — slave or not, they had been absorbed into life in the Aztec holy city. → Montezuma II is the patron of Templo Mayor. As it turned out, they were not all captured, sold, and immediately sacrificed to the gods. Templos gemelos Between 1325 and 1519, the Templo Mayor was expanded, enlarged, and reconstructed during seven main building phases, which likely corresponded with different rulers, or tlatoani (“speaker”), taking office. Templo Mayor (el Gran Templo) En el Templo Mayor los aztecas adoraban a los mismos dioses que adoraban en el templo de Tlatelolco. Après la conquête espagnole, au XVIe siècle, le Templo Mayor fut détruit et son emplacement exact fut oublié, à la suite des multiples chantiers … Then, in 2017, another structure was discovered at Templo Mayor: a wall comprised of more than 600 skulls. In a flash, he’d plunge the knife into the chest of the victim and wrench out the victim’s still-beating heart from their chest. It's the name given to a vast complex of religious and civic buildings that were once the center of the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. In particular, they described the horrifying sight within a temple: a chamber filled wall to ceiling with human skulls. Inside Templo Mayor, The Mythic Aztec Temple Of Skulls That Terrified The Spanish Conquistadors, Kaleena Fraga is a French-speaking, history-loving writer based in Brooklyn. El mayor número de ofrendas se encontró en esta etapa, debajo del piso de la plataforma; ello nos habla del apogeo de Tenochtitlan y del número de tributarios bajo su control. Commonly known today as the Templo Mayor (Great Temple), its two tower-shrines soared high above a base measuring roughly 328 by 262 feet. El Templo Mayor crecía en tamaño y magnificencia y era un reflejo del poder azteca en otras regiones. It is believed that the skull rack served three purposes and could be found in most Aztec cities. Or had the Spanish, in their feverish destruction of Aztec society, razed Templo Mayor completely? 10 - 32. Historia del arte hispanoamericano: Arte Precolombino , Editorial Alhambra 1987, ISBN 978-84-205-1561-8 . She was the Aztec moon goddess, Coyolxāuhqui (pronounced “coy-ol-shau-key”). Cortés was ruthless and merciless. The Templo Mayor (Great Temple) was one of the main temples of the Aztecs.It was in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City.Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica.The temple was called the huei teocalli in the Nahuatl language. As crowds gathered, the victims were dragged up the grand steps of the temple and to the peak of its pyramids. El Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlán era el templo principal en la capital del imperio azteca. Descargue esta imagen gratuita sobre Aztecas Templo Mayor Adoratorios de la vasta biblioteca de imágenes y videos de dominio público de Pixabay. Less than two decades later, he razed the Templo Mayor and the city of Tenochtitlan. Olmec mask (Olmec-style mask) Templo Paisaje Increibles Paisajes Fotografia Lugares Yacimiento Arqueológico Viajes A México Horizonte Parisino Maine. Bits and pieces had come to light, but how much more could be uncovered? A third, lower temple represented the ancient serpent god Quetzalcoatl. The Spanish, in building their cathedral, even used stones from the smoldering remains of Templo Mayor itself. Este templo azteca tenía dos tramos de escalones empinados; los constructores diseñaron los escalones para asegurarse de que un cuerpo lanzado hacia abajo cayera directamente al fondo. This map of Tenochtitlan was printed in 1524, just a few years after Cortés conquered the city. The Templo Mayor’s wall of skulls, or tzompantli. Para la mejor vista de nuestra página web, ... Templo Mayor, México D.F. Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan. También estaban ahí la llamada Casa de las Águilas, el Templo de Ehécatl, el Tzompantli, el Juego de Pelota y el Calmecac, entre otras edificaciones. The intense violence of the sacrifices, then, served an important and positive purpose to the Aztecs. In 1913, sunlight touched Templo Mayor for the first time in centuries when a Mexican archaeologist named Manuel Gamio, recently appointed Inspector of Ancient Monuments, discovered its southwest corner beneath a demolished house. El Templo Mayor azteca de Tenochitlán y sus significados Prestentación El Museo Barbier-Mueller de Arte Precolombino de Barcelona y el Instituto Universitario de Cultura de la Universitat Pompeu Fabra organizan por cuarto año consecutivo la jornada Arte y Mito, que en esta ocasión reflexionará sobre la cultura azteca y los últimos hallazgos arqueológicos en México. And yet, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico City, contains echoes of its Aztec roots. En consecuencia, la capital azteca y el Templo Mayor fueron tanto centro ejemplar como ¡periferia ejemplar! En 205 ofrendas descubiertas junto al Templo Mayor en 39 años, solo 600 gramos. This deity was slain and dismembered by her brother Huitzilopochtli, the war god, according to legend. The Spaniards were simply blown away, not only by its size, but by the beauty and majesty of the many temples and palaces of which Templo Mayor was the … It was a central gathering place in Aztec life within the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the once-thriving and sophisticated empire, and was thus also the center of religious life. Jonathan Glancey investigates. The victim’s body would then be moved to another chamber. ¿Listos para una visita guiada de dos horas? During a ritual sacrifice, prisoners were painted and dressed in bright colors. According to Aztec sources, as many as 84,000 people, all made captive in wars against their neighbours, were sacrificed on a single occasion to mark the consecration of the Templo Mayor, or Great Pyramid, of Tenochtitlan in 1487. Cuando por fin lograron obtener los materiales necesarios de construcción, iniciaron la construcción de un centro ceremonial más digno de su dios. El Período Posclásico es la última etapa del desarrollo independiente de la civilización mesoamericana.Como los otros periodos de la cronología mesoamericana, el inicio de este período varía en el tiempo, aunque se suele señalar la caída de las ciudades-Estado del Epiclásico del centro de Mesoamérica como el principio del Posclásico [cita requerida]. Cortés also had the luxury of a Mayan liaison, known as La Malinche, who could interpret Aztec plans and actions for him. Templo Mayor is the Spanish word for ''Main Temple.'' In 1521, Cortés lay waste to Tenochtitlan. Two years after Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico with an army of soldiers, he completely destroyed Tenochtitlan. In a letter to the Spanish king, Charles I, Cortés described the Aztec capital: “The city is as big as Seville or Cordoba. No amount of ritual sacrifice could stop Cortés, and the Spaniard ended the world as the Aztecs knew it. Less than two decades later, he razed the Templo Mayor and the city of Tenochtitlan. The Spanish estimated that the wall of skulls they came across in the 16th century featured 130,000 severed heads. Templo Mayor es la denominación en español de huey teocalli, el gran templo en la capital azteca de Tenochtitlan, fundada en el año 1325, que fue conquistada y destruída por los españoles en 1521. It has been dubbed “Huey Tzompantli,” which loosely translates to “The Great Wall of Skulls.”, “We were expecting just men… as warriors would be,” noted Rodrigo Bolanos, a biological anthropologist involved in the unearthing of Templo Mayor. Spanish conquerors had described massive pyramids and walls packed with human skulls. The Aztecs considered Templo Mayor, or the “Main Temple,” to be the center of the universe. Ciudad bulliciosa, atravesada por innumerables canales, produjo el asombró de los conquistadores, quienes la compararon con Venecia. Ver más ideas sobre templo mayor mexico, templo, ciudad de méxico. The Templo Mayor was first constructed in the reign of Itzcoatl (r. 1427-1440 CE), improved upon by his successor Motecuhzoma I (r. 1440-1469 CE), and again enlarged during the reign of Ahuitzotl (r. 1486-1502 CE). Without human sacrifice, the Aztecs believed, the sun might not rise. Then, priests would cast the body of the victim down the steps of Templo Mayor. Beneath Mexico City lies what the Aztecs believed to be the center of the universe: Templo Mayor. Coyolxauhqui, the Aztec goddess of the moon. The women and children might have been captured alongside warriors, then sold as slaves to be sacrificed. Finally, in 1978, the world drew closer to the answer. It was actually closer to 700. There, the Aztecs would stretch a victim across a sacrificial stone. Wikimedia CommonsCoyolxauhqui, the Aztec goddess of the moon. She was dismembered and decapitated. Only recently has the world begun to understand the hidden history of the Aztec’s “Main Temple,” where a wall with thousands of skulls was said to be buried. He brought with him smallpox, which decimated the indigenous people. In February 1978, electrical workers uncovered a large stone sculpture, depicting the Aztec female lunar deity Coyolxauhqui. Many have seen the pyramids of Teotihuacan. Templo Mayor MuseumThe Templo Mayor’s wall of skulls, or tzompantli. Siendo muy religiosos, construyeron varios templos en cada ciudad que formaban. Le Templo Mayor (« Grand Temple » en espagnol), était le nom de la grande pyramide à degrés de Tenochtitlan, la capitale des Aztèques, ainsi que, par synecdoque, du centre cérémoniel dans lequel elle se situaits 1 (également appelé Recinto sagrado en espagnol, c'est-à-dire « Enceinte sacrée »). Fort Ancient Culture: Great Serpent Mound. The city of Tenochtitlan was established in 1325 on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco (much of which has since been filled in to accommodate Mexico City which now exists on this site), and with the city’s foundation the original structure of the Templo Mayor was built. Hallada una ofrenda azteca de un jaguar junto al Templo Mayor, en México "No sabemos si bajo la ofrenda del jaguar hay una tumba real, la cual seguimos buscando", explica Leonardo López Luján, el director del Proyecto Templo Mayor, a National Geographic España. The world itself could crumble into dust. A casi 500 años de la caída de Tenochtitlán, arqueólogos mexicanos descubrieron dos ofrendas en el Templo Mayor que podrían contener los restos de los antiguos gobernantes mexicas; un suceso inédito hasta ahora.. En una de las cámaras encontraron el esqueleto de un jaguar ataviado de guerrero con un disco de madera tallada en la espalda, emblema de Huitzilopochtli, dios de la guerra azteca. The Spanish conquerors had described such a sight. El Templo Mayor de Tenochtitlán era el templo principal en la capital del imperio azteca. Other structures descend into the earth at a rate of about 20 feet per century, but Templo Mayor remains more still. In Aztec tradition, the location of the Templo Mayor is said to have been the site on which the Aztec first arrived in the Valley of Mexico after they discovered the sign from their god, time period before the Aztec established the city of Tenochtitlan, https://www.historycrunch.com/aztec-temple-templo-mayor.html#/. Tras 40 años de exploración, el Templo Mayor casi llega a su máximo auge histórico. Historians used to believe this was mere anti-Aztec propoganda — until they made a startling discovery in 2017. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in the New World when he was 18. The Templo Mayor was no exception. The woman was not really a woman at all. Throughout its history as a civilization the Aztec Empire expanded across much of central Mexico and other surrounding areas, to become that … First European Map of Tenochtitlan (1524). At the base of the pyramid, stone serpents stood guard. The pinnacle of Aztec architecture was the Templo Mayor, a vast religious building – with a blood-soaked history. This discovery revived great interest in the Templo Mayor, the Great Temple of the Aztecs (Price & Feinman, 2013). Wikimedia CommonsSpanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in the New World when he was 18. Wikimedia CommonsTwo years after Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico with an army of soldiers, he completely destroyed Tenochtitlan. El poder colonial erigió sobre sus ruinas una nueva ciudad, por lo que durante muchos siglos el santuario principal de los aztecas quedó olvidado. According to Aztec myth, her severed head was the moon itself. Spanish soldiers viciously destroyed Templo Mayor and the city of Tenochtitlan. This was an area dedicated to the religious and historical traditions of the Aztec, and the Templo Mayor was the largest of the structures located there. The main streets are very wide and very straight… sixty thousand people come each day to buy and sell.”, One of Cortés’s men, conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, wrote that, “these great towns and [temples] and buildings rising from the water, all made of stone, seemed like an enchanted vision… Indeed, some of our soldiers asked whether it was not all a dream.”. En 1978, se desenterró una enorme piedra de 8 toneladas (7.000 kilogramos) que representa a Coyolxauhqui (la diosa azteca de la luna), que marca la ubicación del templo, un lugar de reunión sagrado para los aztecas durante los años 1300 y 1400. First, a staircase was found in 1933; then more stone serpents in 1948; and in the 1960s, the extension of Mexico City’s subway led to a treasure trove of Aztec artifacts.