The giant sunken square of La Ciudadela “the Citadel” is the first thing you see as you come through the main entrance at Puerta 1. This was the city’s beating heart for administrative activities during its heyday, and priests and civil servants lived in houses surrounding the plaza. A small pyramid in the center was revealed upon excavation to house a temple to an old favorite, the serpent god Quetzalcoatl. The inferior outer pyramid was partly demolished to show off one of the sites most impressive structures. The temple is the most extravagantly decorated on the site, with carved images of the fang baring Quetzacoatl and the bog-eyed Tlaloc, the rain god, which can be seen in hundreds of later carvings around the country.

Location:
Teotihuacan, Mexico

Ruin

Relative price: Budget

Travel Skills: None

By Lisa Rodan

Created: 28 Apr 2009

Updated: 28 Apr 2009