Templo Mayor
Templo Mayor de México-Tenochtitlan
Mexico · Mexico City
In brief
These are the excavated remains of Tenochtitlan's principal temple. The site lies within the Historic Centre of Mexico City World Heritage component and has yielded numerous offerings related to Mexica ceremonies.
What was found?
- 1Coyolxauhqui monolith
This large stone work depicts the goddess Coyolxauhqui. It is among the principal finds of the Templo Mayor excavations and the museum collection.
- 2Tlaltecuhtli monolith
This monumental stone sculpture depicts Tlaltecuhtli. It documents the sanctuary's large-scale depictions of deities.
- 3Mezcala-style stone figures
Mezcala-style figures were found in offering assemblages. According to researchers, these objects may have been brought as war booty from the region of present-day Guerrero.
- 4Ritual offerings in stone chests
Stone figures and other gifts were found in offerings numbered 186, 187, and 189. Researchers believe these were deposited during the same ceremony as similar offerings discovered previously.
- 5Tláloc-shaped ceramic vessels
Ceramic vessels depicting Tláloc were uncovered during excavations. Together with the temple's sacred section dedicated to Tláloc, they constitute material traces of religious practices.
What does it point to?
Templo Mayor was a center where political power and gifts offered to the gods were intertwined in Mexica society. According to researchers, similarities between different offering deposits indicate an extensive ceremony carried out simultaneously during the reign of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina.
What did it teach us?
- It showed that offerings around the temple formed orderly and comparable assemblages.
- According to researchers, it revealed that offerings found in separate excavations could be parts of the same ceremony.
- The Mezcala figures documented the transport of objects from other regions to the Mexica sanctuary.
Images



Latest news / selected archive
New offering studies announced in 2026 revealed that a total of 83 Mezcala-style figures in six deposits may have been placed as part of the same major ceremony.
Record
- Culture
- Mexica (Aztec)
- Team / historical
- Templo Mayor Project; Leonardo López Luján; INAH
- Coordinates
- 19.4342°, -99.1308°
Sources
- mexicocity.cdmx.gob.mx
- inah.gob.mx
- iaps.zrc-sazu.si
- whc.unesco.org
- INAH — Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina döneminin sunuları
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- Teotihuacan 42 km
- Ancient City of Xochicalco 72 km
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- Monte Alban 365 km
- Palenque 778 km
- Ancient City of Uxmal 984 km
- —
- —
- 12.000
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