The abandoned city of Teotihuacan, just outside Mexico City, is one of the largest pre-Columbian (i.e. before the Spanish turned up) city sites in the Americas. Most of what you can see today was built between 100 and 250 CE, at the start of the classic era of Mesoamerican civilization (which more broadly was around 250-900 CE), and the city’s population is believed to have peaked around 450 CE at around 150,000-200,000. The city was in full use until it was burned and sacked around 550 CE, possibly as a result of civil war or invasion by another group. In this time, what is now Mexico and Guatemala was organized around various city-states; the Teotihuacan city-state dominated the Valley of Mexico, in the vicinity of Mexico City.

Southwest View from Temple of the Sun

Teotihuacan is organized along a roughly north-south axis along a central roadway, the Avenue of the Dead, with three principal temples, which from south to north (your usual visit route) are the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. Also notable is the Cuidadela, a large sunken square facing the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, and the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl located next to the Pyramid of the Moon. Along the way is a range of smaller temples, dwellings, stores and other buildings, as well as a water collection and distribution system that fed off a diverted river. The Avenue of the Dead is engineered at a slight downward slope from north to south to provide water flow. Site orientation is based on cardinal compass points that also related to the sacred calendar and provided guidance as to the timing of religious events. The photo view below is from the (north end) Pyramid of the Moon looking south.

The city originated as a religious center around 100 CE and grew to be the largest in the Americas. An issue with Mesoamerican naming is that the original language and meaning of hieroglyphics is mostly lost and so the name used by later arrivals is used. Amongst many names, Birthplace of the Gods is a main candidate, from the Aztec Nahuatl language, which is often used for Mesoamerican terminology. Another name is Plain of Reeds, derived from hieroglyphic texts, which fits with a geography that once included swamps and lakes. An idea of the regional geography in the Valley of Mexico is provided in this recent painting of Aztec-era Mexico City held at the National Anthropology Museum there:

Source: National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

The Mesoamericans used ceremonial religious centers to anchor their cities and much of the religious symbolism here is believed to relate to their creation myths. The first structure you come to at the south end is the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl, which is a highly decorated pyramid, constructed around 200 CE and set in its own ceremonial complex, the Cuidadela. The temple staircases and edges of each level are decorated with feathered serpent heads, with the serpents in the ledges also alternating with those of a snake-like creature. The structure would originally have been painted, with polished obsidian placed into the eyeholes of the snakes and serpents.

Temple of the Feathered Serpent, Quetzalcoatl

Beneath each of the ledges there is a side view of a serpent. In 2009, following discovery of a sinkhole in the Cuidadela, archaeologists excavated and entered an underground passageway that runs over 300 feet between the Cuidadela and the temple platform. They unearthed artifacts that included spiral shells, beetle wings in a box, hundreds of metallic spheres and greenstone statues. In the underground complex they also discovered a miniature mountainous landscape, with liquid mercury pools representing lakes and golden powdered pyrite in the roof representing stars, that is believed to represent the underworld.

The Cuidadela complex, a sunken rectangular area which sits in front of this temple, served as a main gathering place for the city population, with a large surface that could be flooded to provide a reflecting pool against the then colorfully painted temple pyramid.

Temple of Quetzalcoatl complex looking north to Pyramid of the Sun

The second main structure, further north along the Avenue of the Dead, is the 71-meter high Pyramid of the Sun, constructed around 200 CE, which stands as the third largest pyramid in the world after the pyramids in Giza, Egypt and Cholula, Mexico.

Pyramid of the Sun

While the structures are now bare stone, archaeologists identified many of them as being covered in plaster and then painted over, likely in dark red and with murals.

There are almost no remaining painted surfaces except for the jaguar mural off the Avenue of the Dead, which survives on a partly enclosed wall. There are also other murals inside the Palace of Quetzalpapálotl.

Jaguar Mural

The stone posts standing out of the Pyramid of the Sun once held a painted plaster surface in place. The pyramid is built over a 4-chambered cave and aligns with the Cerro Gordo mountain to the north and perpendicularly to sunrises and sunsets at significant dates of the year. For example, the pyramid aligns with sunsets 260 days apart, which was the number of days in the Mesoamerican sacred calendar.

Pyramid of the Sun

The entire complex is a massive engineering feat constructed over hundreds of years, considering that the wheel and domesticated pack animals were unavailable to the Mesoamericans; everything had to be carried or dragged by people. There are theories regarding the similarity of the 3-pyramid layout here to those of the Giza pyramid complex in Egypt, which start to take you down the road of ancient civilizations, aliens and UFOs, or at a minimum, trans-oceanic contact between Mesoamerica and Ancient Egypt.

Northeast View from the Temple of the Sun

Mesoamerica roughly extended from modern Mexico through to northern Costa Rica. The city-state group that dominated the Valley of Mexico centered their activity around Teotihuacan, until their collapse around 600CE and replacement by other groups – if this is confusing, a trip to Mexico City’s outstanding anthropological museum is a good way to understand the dynamics. The final pre-Columbian group were the Aztecs, who dominated much of Mesoamerica at the time of the Spanish arrival in 1519.

The final structure to see is the Pyramid of the Moon, constructed between 100-450 CE as a ceremonial platform for the Goddess of Teotihuacan, the goddess of water, fertility and the earth.

Pyramid of the Moon

It is also close to the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl, which has a restored courtyard and a set of murals from around 200 CE.

Palace of Quetzalpapalotl

Logistics. Teotihuacan is about 45 km northeast of downtown Mexico City and generally hiring a vehicle is the simplest way to go. Haven’t considered Mexico City as a destination yet? Start now and here are some ideas –

General visit tips – https://wp.me/p7Jh3P-vp

Trotsky museum – https://wp.me/p7Jh3P-wT

When you go to Teotihuacan, take a hat, sunblock and water; it’s a good 2-3 hours of walking and pyramid climbing with almost no cover from the sun – and the pyramid steps are large ones.

A complementary destination to Teotihuacan is Mexico City’s stunning National Anthropology Museum https://www.mna.inah.gob.mx. It may be better to go there first to get the context and then go and see the real thing after; although probably not on the same day.