Templo Mayor

19.4347°N, 99.1317°W.

The Templo Mayor was the principal pyramid of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, occupying the centre of what is now the historic core of Mexico City directly behind the Metropolitan Cathedral. The pyramid was built and rebuilt in seven superimposed phases between approximately 1325 and 1521 CE, each new phase encasing the previous structure entirely. The final form rose roughly 60 metres in stepped tiers, with twin staircases ascending to two summit shrines — one to the rain god Tlaloc, one to the war god Huitzilopochtli. The pyramid was deliberately demolished by the Spanish under Hernán Cortés in 1521 and the stones were reused to build the colonial cathedral. Eduardo Matos Moctezuma's Proyecto Templo Mayor, beginning in 1978, has exposed the lower phases and recovered more than 7,000 ritual offerings from the platform fill.

The Templo Mayor is the building the conquistadors knocked down to build their cathedral with the same stones.