Teotihuacan

About Teotihuacan

One of the largest pre-Columbian cities in the Americas, Teotihuacan was a major urban center that profoundly influenced Maya culture and politics. Its monumental Avenue of the Dead and towering pyramids remain among the most visited archaeological sites in the world.

Highlights

• Pyramid of the Sun — third-largest pyramid on Earth
• Pyramid of the Moon with sweeping views down the Avenue of the Dead
• Temple of the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl)
• Murals of Tepantitla depicting the paradise of Tlaloc
• Expansive grid-planned city covering 20 square kilometers

Pyramids & Monuments

Pyramid of the Sun

The third-largest pyramid in the world by volume, rising 63 metres above the Avenue of the Dead. Built in the first century AD over a natural cave that the city's builders likely regarded as a place of creation or a portal to the underworld, its east face is precisely oriented to mark the points of sunrise on the zenith days — the two days each year when the sun passes directly overhead at this latitude.

Pyramid of the Moon

Slightly shorter than the Pyramid of the Sun but placed on higher ground so that their summits align, the Pyramid of the Moon closes the northern end of the Avenue of the Dead. Excavations beneath it have uncovered multiple dedicatory burials — sacrificed humans and animals deposited alongside jade, obsidian, and pyrite — during each of the pyramid's seven construction phases.

Temple of the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl)

The most lavishly decorated building at the site, fronted by alternating stone heads of the feathered serpent and a goggle-eyed rain deity covering every surface of the pyramid's façade. Excavations beneath the structure have uncovered mass burial pits containing over 200 sacrificed individuals, likely deposited during the temple's dedication. The building was at the centre of a political and ritual transformation that fundamentally reshaped Teotihuacan's power structure.

Avenue of the Dead

A ceremonial boulevard nearly 4 kilometres long and up to 40 metres wide, forming the north–south axis of the city's grid plan. Named by Aztec visitors who believed the flanking platforms were royal tombs, the avenue was in fact lined with the temples, residences, and gathering spaces of the priestly and administrative elite. Walking its full length gives the clearest possible sense of the scale and ambition of this ancient urban centre.

Image by Makalu from Pixabay