A note on the position and extent of the great temple enclosure of Tenochtitlan,: and the position, structure and orientation of the Teocolli of Huitzilopochtli. — John Shaqi
A note on the position and extent of the great temple enclosure of Tenochtitlan,: and the position, structure and orientation of the Teocolli of Huitzilopochtli.Maudslay, Alfred Percival
History
A note on the position and extent of the great temple enclosure of Tenochtitlan,: and the position, structure and orientation of the Teocolli of Huitzilopochtli.
Maudslay, Alfred Percival
Huitzilopochtli (Aztec deity); Indian architecture -- Mexico; Mexico City (Mexico) -- Antiquities
This Temple was rebuilt and added to a second time; and was so large and
of such great extent, that it was more than a crossbow-shot square.
It was all enclosed in masonry of well squared stone.
There were in the square four gateways which opened to the four
principal streets, three of them by which the city was approached along
the causeways from the land, [the fourth] on the east in the direction
of the lake whence the City was entered by water.
In the middle of this enormous square was the Temple which was like a
quadrangular tower (as we have already stated) built of masonry, large
and massive.
This Temple (not counting the square within which it was built) measured
three hundred and sixty feet from corner to corner, and was pyramidal in
form and make, for the higher one ascended the narrower became the
edifice, the contractions being made at intervals so as to embellish it.
On the top, where there was a pavement and small plaza rather more than
seventy feet wide, two very large altars had been built, one apart from
the other, set almost at the edge or border of the tower on the east
side, so that there was only just sufficient ground and space for a man
to walk [on the east side] without danger of falling down from the
building.
These altars were five palms in height with their walls inlaid with
stone, all painted with figures according to the whim and taste of him
who ordered the painting to be done. Above the altars were the chapels
roofed with very well dressed and carved wood.
Each of these chapels had three stories one above the other, and each
story or stage was of great height, so that each one of them [of the
chapels] if set on the ground (not on that tower, but on the ground
level whence the edifice sprang) would have made a very lofty and
sumptuous building, and for this reason the whole fabric of the Temple
was so lofty that its height compelled admiration. To behold, from the
summit of this temple, the city and its surroundings, with the lakes and
all the towns and cities that were built in it and on its banks, was a
matter of great pleasure and contentment.
On the West side this building had no stages [contractions], but steps
by which one ascended to the level of the chapels, and the said steps
had a rise of one foot or more. The steps, or stairs, of this famous
temple numbered one hundred and thirteen, and all were of very well
dressed stone.
From the last step at the summit of this Temple to the Altars and
entrance to the Chapels was a considerable space of ground, so that the
priests and ministers of the Idols could carry out their functions
unimpeded and thoroughly.
On each of the two altars stood an Idol of great bulk, each one
representing the greatest God they possessed, which was Huitzilupuchtli
or by his other name Mexitli.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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