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Great Pyramid of Cholula

 
Great Pyramid of Cholula

 
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The Great Pyramid of Cholula or Tlachihualtepetl (Nahuatl for "artificial mountain") is a huge complex located in Cholula
Cholula

Cholula is a city in the Mexican state of Puebla. The official, though little used, full name of the city is Cholula de Rivadavia. The city of Cholula is divided into two municipalities, San Andr?s Cholula and San Pedro Cholula, which are considered to be part of the Metropolitan area of Puebla, and a third, more rural municipality cal...
, Puebla
Puebla

Puebla is a Political divisions of Mexico located in the center east of the country, to the east of Mexico City.The state of Puebla borders the states of Veracruz to the east, Hidalgo , Mexico State, Tlaxcala, and Morelos to the west, and Guerrero and Oaxaca to the south....
, Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. It is the world's largest monument and largest Pre-Columbian pyramid
Mesoamerican pyramids

Mesoamerican pyramids, pyramid-shaped structures, are an important part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. These structures were usually step pyramids with temples on top – more akin to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia than to the Egyptian pyramid....
 by volume.

The temple-pyramid complex was built over many dozens of generations, from the 2nd century BCE to the early 16th century, and was dedicated to the deity Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
. It has a base of 450 by 450 m (1476x1476 ft) and a height of 66 m (217 ft).






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The Great Pyramid of Cholula or Tlachihualtepetl (Nahuatl for "artificial mountain") is a huge complex located in Cholula
Cholula

Cholula is a city in the Mexican state of Puebla. The official, though little used, full name of the city is Cholula de Rivadavia. The city of Cholula is divided into two municipalities, San Andr?s Cholula and San Pedro Cholula, which are considered to be part of the Metropolitan area of Puebla, and a third, more rural municipality cal...
, Puebla
Puebla

Puebla is a Political divisions of Mexico located in the center east of the country, to the east of Mexico City.The state of Puebla borders the states of Veracruz to the east, Hidalgo , Mexico State, Tlaxcala, and Morelos to the west, and Guerrero and Oaxaca to the south....
, Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. It is the world's largest monument and largest Pre-Columbian pyramid
Mesoamerican pyramids

Mesoamerican pyramids, pyramid-shaped structures, are an important part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. These structures were usually step pyramids with temples on top – more akin to the ziggurats of Mesopotamia than to the Egyptian pyramid....
 by volume.

The temple-pyramid complex was built over many dozens of generations, from the 2nd century BCE to the early 16th century, and was dedicated to the deity Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
. It has a base of 450 by 450 m (1476x1476 ft) and a height of 66 m (217 ft). According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is in fact the largest pyramid
Pyramid

A pyramid is a building where the outer surfaces are triangular and converge at a point. The base of pyramids are usually quadrilateral or trilateral , meaning that a pyramid usually has four or five faces....
 as well as the largest monument
Monument

A monument is a type of structure either explicitly created to commemorate a person or important event or which has become important to a social group as a part of their remembrance of past events....
 ever constructed anywhere in the world, with a total volume estimated at 4.45 million m³, almost one third larger than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza
Great Pyramid of Giza

The Great Pyramid of Giza, also called Khufu's Pyramid or the Pyramid of Khufu, and Pyramid of Cheops, is the oldest and largest of the three Egyptian pyramidss in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now Cairo , Egypt, and is the only remaining member of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World....
 in Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
. The Aztecs believed that Xelhua
Xelhua

Xelhua is one of the seven giants in Aztec mythology who escaped the flood by ascending the mountain of Tlaloc in the terrestrial paradise, and afterwards built the Great Pyramid of Cholula....
 built the Great Pyramid of Cholula.

Today the pyramid at first appears to be a natural hill surmounted by a church. This is the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of the Remedies), also known as the Santuario de la Virgen de los Remedios (Sanctuary of the Virgin of the Remedies), which was built by the Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 in colonial times (1594) on the site of a pre-Hispanic temple. The church is a major Catholic pilgrimage
Pilgrimage

File:Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia.jpgIn religion and spirituality, a pilgrimage is a long quest or search of great moral significance....
 destination, and the site is also used for the celebration of indigenous rites. Many ancient sites in Latin America
Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
 are found under modern Catholic holy sites, due to the practice of the Catholic Church repurposing local religious sites.

Because of the historic and religious significance of the church, which is a designated colonial monument, the pyramid as a whole has not been excavated and restored, as have the smaller but better-known pyramids at Teotihuacan
Teotihuacán

Teotihuacan is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, containing some of the largest Mesoamerican pyramid built in the pre-Columbian Americas....
. Inside the pyramid are some five miles (8 km) of tunnels excavated by archaeologists
Archaeology

Archaeology, archeology, or arch?ology is the science that studies Homo cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, Artifact , features, Biofact s, and cultural landscape....
.

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See also

  • Archaeology of the Americas
    Archaeology of the Americas

    The archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of North America, Central America , South America and the Caribbean. This includes the study of pre-historic/Pre-Columbian and historic Indigenous Peoples of the Americas....
  • Cholula
    Cholula

    Cholula is a city in the Mexican state of Puebla. The official, though little used, full name of the city is Cholula de Rivadavia. The city of Cholula is divided into two municipalities, San Andr?s Cholula and San Pedro Cholula, which are considered to be part of the Metropolitan area of Puebla, and a third, more rural municipality cal...
  • Cholula (Mesoamerican site)
    Cholula (Mesoamerican site)

    File:Cholula Massacre .jpgCholula , was an important city of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, dating back to at least the 2nd century BCE, with settlement as a village going back at least some thousand years earlier....


External links

  • with many photos