La Ciudadela

Teotihuacán


This expansive square complex is believed to have been the residence of the city’s supreme ruler, and its rooms may have been the city’s administrative center. Four wide walls topped by 15 pyramids enclose a huge open space, with a major pyramid, the Templo de Quetzalcóatl, built around 250 CE, to the east. The pyramids represented mountains during rituals where the plaza, representing the world of the living, was deliberately flooded.

Skeletal remains of 137 human victims have been found under and around this temple. DNA tests reveal they were brought from diverse parts of Mesoamerica to be sacrificed. Teotihuacán was a multiethnic city formed into different neighborhoods.

In 2003, heavy rains sculpted a sinkhole beneath La Ciudadela to reveal a tunnel 17m underground, installed with an impressive miniature landscape representing the underworld. The tunnel was decorated with fool's gold to represent the starry night sky and pools of mercury to depict lakes. A vast collection of ritual treasures was also discovered, including eye-shaped crystals, jaguar sculptures and crocodile teeth-shaped diorite.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Teotihuacán attractions

1. Templo de Quetzalcóatl

0.02 MILES

Teotihuacán's third-largest pyramid is the most ornate. The four surviving steps of the facade (there were originally seven) are adorned with striking…

2. Museo del Sitio

0.61 MILES

Lying just south of the Pirámide del Sol, Teotihuacán's site museum makes for a refreshing stop midway through a visit to the historic complex. The museum…

4. Teotihuacán

0.75 MILES

This fabulous archaeological zone lies in a mountain-ringed offshoot of the Valle de México. Site of the huge Pirámides del Sol y de la Luna (Pyramids of…

5. Pirámide del Sol

0.75 MILES

The world’s third-largest pyramid – surpassed in size only by Egypt’s Cheops (which is also a tomb, unlike the temples here) and the pyramid of…

6. Calzada de los Muertos

0.78 MILES

Centuries ago, the Calzada de los Muertos must have seemed absolutely incomparable to its inhabitants, who were able to see its buildings at their best…

7. Palacio de Tepantitla

0.97 MILES

This priest’s residence, 500m northeast of the Pirámide del Sol, contains Teotihuacán’s most famous fresco, the worn Paradise of Tláloc. The rain god…

8. Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl

1.1 MILES

Off the Plaza de la Luna’s southwest corner is the Palace of the Quetzal Butterfly, thought to be the home of a high priest. The remains of bears,…