Templo Mayor

Templo Mayor, Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City), Aztec, 1375-1520, Indigenous Americas

Templo Mayor is the main temple in the city of Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City and the capital of the Aztec Empire, in the most sacred part of the city. Templo Mayor was most likely the location of the most important ritual and ceremonial events. It was made during the period of 1375 to 1520 out of stone covered in stucco. It was made on a very large scale, and it could have been seen from four miles away. It is made up of two stepped pyramids on a huge platform. One temple was for the god of rain, Tlaloc, and one was for the god of war, Huitcilopochti. Along with this, it has a double staircase topped with a chasmool and stone altar. At the base are carved serpent heads, while at the top are sculptures holding banners made of paper and feathers. During the Spring and Autumn equinoxes, the sun rises between the two temples. Spoila was also a significant factor in its creation, as every ruler would add another part or layer. 

In the early 1500s, Spanish reconquista voyaged to the Central Plateau with the motives of gaining wealth and land. When they reached Tenochtitlan, the Spanish destroyed Templo Mayor with the purpose of erasing Aztec religion and replacing it with Spanish religion. This was because the Spanish believed that Christianity was the only “rightful” religion, seeing Aztec religion as mortifying and strange. Similar to how the Mexica used spoila, the Spanish also did. The Spanish used materials from the ruins of Templo Mayor for governmental buildings, so many of the buildings surrounding it are made of the original temples. 

Templo Mayor is a physical expression Mexica culture and religion, but also of the Reconquista, a spiritual and physical conquest.