Spanish Institute of Puebla

Teotihuacan

The city of Gods.

It is one of the most reknowned and most explored archeological sites on the American continent. It is located 33 miles northeast of Mexico City. We will visit the Pyramid of the Moon, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the great Pyramid of the Sun and the museum. If time and conditions permit we will visit Mexico City.

Apart from Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds, the Avenue of the Dead and the small portion of its vibrant murals that been exceptionally well-preserved. Additionally, Teotihuacan exported fine obsidian tools that gamered high prestige and widespread usage throughout Mesoamerica.

The city is thought to have been establishead around 100 BC, with major monuments continously under construction until about 250 AD. The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries AD, but its major monuments were sacked and systematically burned around 550 AD.

Cholula

Temanapa Pyramid.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtepetl (Nahuatl for "artificial mountain"), is a huge complex located in Cholula, Puebla. It is the largest archaeological site of a pyramid (temple) in the New World, as well as the largest pyramid jnown to exist in the world today. The piramid stands 55 meters (180 ft) above the surrounding plain, and in its final form it measured 400 by400 metres (1,300 by 1,300 ft). The pyramid is a temple that traditionally has been viewed as having been dedicated to the god Quetzalcoaltl.

The Great Pyramid was an important religious and mythical centre in prehispanic times. Over a period of a thousand years prior to the Spanish Conquest, consecutive construction phases gradually built up the pyramid until it became the larges by volume.