Templo Mayor (and its museum) and the Zocalo

So one of the last times that I was in Mexico City, someone with little hands was able to reach into my jacket pocket and steal my camera (back in March of 2009 when I was riding the 'metro' or subway). I had just taken a bunch of pictures inside the National Palace (of Diego Rivera's many murals there), the Zocalo, the cathedral, and other buildings. Anyways, needless to write, I lost all of those pictures. This visit to Mexico City occurred without anyone robbing me, which is so nice! Here are just a few of the pictures I took of the Zocalo, the Palacio Nacional (which was closed the whole week we were there; well, the section of the palace with all of Rivera's murals was closed), and a Nahua-Mexica inspired dance and ceremony. I also wanted to include a few photos of Mexico City's streets because it is usually very difficult to simply walk on the streets without having to constantly dodge other people and maneuver within the interminable crowds of people. I could never live in this historically rich but extremely overpopulated city!! I love visiting central Mexico, but one week was long enough for me!

The Templo Mayor, or rather what remains of it, was the enormous collection of pyramid-temples of the Tenochca Mexica (well, to be completely accurate, "templo mayor" signifies "big temple," so just one, meaning THE big temple-pyramid of the Mexica). This famously immigrant group of Nahuatl-speaking people came to the area now known as Mexico City and established what would become Tenochtitlan in 1325.  This place where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus was the site where they would build their eventual empire (the eagle on a cactus was, as most people know, foretold by one of their seers or shamans while this humble group was still migrating throughout what is now northern Mexico). Here are some pics of what remains of the central precinct of the Mexica where, at the very top of the Templo Mayor, they had two sacred temple structures: one for Huitzilopochtli, the principal Mexica "hummingbird to the left" god and one for Tlaloc, the Mexica god of rain, lightning, water, and other things. It is great to know that continuing excavations and studies are revealing more and more about this place and about the Mexica themselves, but the Mexica and the Maya often take up many scholars' research efforts (for understandable reasons); therefore, I would like to be aware, at least, that there were hundreds of various groups in Mesoamerica, not just the Mexica (and other Nahua groups or "Aztecs") and the Maya.

The juxtaposition of modern Mexico City (with its obvious colonial past as well) with the archaeological remains of the Templo Mayor is fascinating! To think that all of this was once surrounded by water in all directions baffles the mind.

The accompanying museum of the Templo Mayor contains many of the objects that archaeologists have discovered throughout the years. I only post a few pictures here because these entries take quite a bit of time and I just wanted to put up some photos of something that I have recently been doing. Anyways, it stimulates the mind to contemplate how we "know" things about a culture due to the material objects that were used, created, and produced in that culture. The Mexica were skilled sculptors and artists who manufactured objects in several media. These are just some of the photos I took; so, there are many, many objects in the museum that I have not included (even though I have pictures of them). I will try to post again soon showing pictures of the many things I looked at when I visited the Museo Nacional de Antropologia e Historia that has so many objects created by the "Aztecs" and others.