Visualizing Cholula’s Sacred Landscape: A Diachronic Perspective

Geoffrey McCafferty
Society for American Archaeology, Portland, OR, 2023

When Hernan Cortes arrived in Tollan Cholollan in October of 1519 he was astounded by
the splendor of the city, which he described as more magnificent than any he had ever seen –
including in Spain itself. He described the skyline of more than 400 cues, the Nahuatl term for
pyramid mound based on the root, cueitl for ‘skirt,’ where the inference is of a conical base upon
which stood a temple. The city was estimated to have had a population of 50,000, with a similar
number in surrounding towns, but also with many empty houses that were used during religious
festivals when the city swelled in size with visiting pilgrims. The central feature of the city was
the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, located in what is now the ceremonial center
of San Pedro Cholula and presumably beneath the Convent/Cathedral of San Gabriel.
In this image from the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, painted in the mid-1500s and
annotated in Nahuatl, the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl is located on the left side of a ceremonial
precinct, where it was surrounded by a fenced inclosure. In front of the pyramid is a stream, in
which an axolotl is depicted; the axolotl with its feathery gills may have been perceived as the
embodiment of a feathered serpent. To the right of the pyramid is a ballcourt and another
pyramid, while in the upper right is a naturalistic mound upon which is a frog, that in other
scenes in the Historia is identified as the partially-abandoned Great Pyramid, the
Tlachihualtepetl. Surrounding the plaza are house compounds of prominent members of the
community.

Figure 1: Cholula ceremonial center from Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca (1976)

A second Colonial document also depicts pre-Conquest Cholula. The Mapa de

Cuautinchan represents a migration from the Basin of Mexico into Puebla, passing through
Cholula. Again the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl is represented as part of a plaza group bounded by
elaborate colonnaded buildings. Two named individuals are depicted in front of the pyramid,
within the plaza. Calendrical dates associated with roads refer to the travel time of the migration.
A date located between the plaza and another structure to the left represents 7 Flower, which may
indicate the Great Pyramid.
Figure 2: The Cholula ceremonial center from the Mapa de Cuauhtinchan

The Tlachihualtepetl is shown in the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca at the time of the

arrival of the Tolteca-Chichimeca chiefs in the Middle Postclassic, ca. 1200 CE, when they arrive
at the palace of the Olmeca-Xicallanca high priest Amapane. The palace is depicted on a
platform of the Great Pyramid; excavations by Eduardo Noguera in the 1930s, and again in the
mid-1990s, exposed remains of an elite structure including a miniature pyramid shrine with
burials that was likely the palace of the Aquiach Amapane. The image of the Tlachihualtepetl
featured a frog on top of the mound, with seven flowers as a naming element. 7 Flower was a
solar deity for the Mixtecs and could be related to the orientation of the Great Pyramid towards
the setting sun on the summer solstice.

Figure 3: Tlachihualtepetl with palace of Amapane, and frog with 7 flowers

Figure 4: Excavations at Patio of the Carved Skulls, the palace of the Aquiach Amapane

The sacred landscape of Cholula was also depicted in the 1581 map of the Colonial city
that accompanied the Descripcion de Cholula by the corregidor Gabriel de Rojas. In this map,
European-style grided streets surround the central square of the city where the convent and
cathedral of San Gabriel are located. Several pyramid mounds are depicted, associated with
churches, including San Andres Cholula and San Miguel Tianguiznahuac. Above and just to the
right of the San Gabriel cathedral is the Great Pyramid, Tlachihualtepetl, with a European-style
trumpet on its summit; this probably relates to a discovery by the priest/chronicler Motolinia who
‘exorcised’ the pyramid in 1531 and discovered shell trumpets buried around an altar dedicated
to a rain deity, Chiconauhquiahuitl. It was believed that frogs ‘trumpeted’ a greeting to the
coming rain, so this may be a link to the frog image shown on top of the pyramid in the Historia
Tolteca-Chichimeca.

Figure 5: Map of Colonial Cholula in the Relaciones Geograficas, 1581

The Codice of Cholula is another Colonial period map, though the inclusion of historical
imagery about the actual Cholula massacre makes it more of a lienzo. On one side of the
document is a more regional perspective, including surrounding towns, villages, and topographic
features. On the reverse is a more detailed view of Cholula itself, indicating pyramid mounds
around which a massacre rages, with Spaniards battling indigenous warriors. Prominent
architectural elements from the ceremonial center include the Tlachihualtepetl, a pyramid just to
the west identified as the Cocoyoc, and a mound indicated by bricks and identified as the
yztenenetlatlacao, or what is now called the Cerrito Acozac . One interesting element is a group
of people standing in front of the Great Pyramid: a woman identified as Dona Maria
Ilamatecuhtli, another woman “Marina” (aka Malinche), and Cortes, in what appears to be a
marriage ceremony. Ilamatecuhtli is the name of the old goddess in the Nahua pantheon, and a
priestess by that name was associated with a temple in Cholula. When, in Bernal Diaz de
Castillo’s account of the lead up to the massacre, Malintzin was warned of the upcoming attack
by an ‘old woman’ it may have been from a meeting with the priestess, Ilamatecuhtli.

Figure 6: Codice of Cholula showing ceremonial center

Figure 7: Detail of Codex of Cholula showing Dona Maria Ilamatecuhtli, Malintzin/Marina, and
Hernan Cortes

The Cholula Massacre is also depicted in the Lienzo de Tlaxcala, where a pyramid
identified by a serpent and feather is under attack by Spanish and Indigenous warriors. Malintzin
stands on the right, directing the attack. The Cholula Massacre was one of the pivotal events in
the Conquest, reported by numerous Colonial-period chroniclers with a wide range of
perspectives.

Figure 8: The Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl during the Cholula Massacre (Lienzo de Tlaxcala)

These historical documents present a range of visual information about the sacred
landscape of Cholula around the time of the Spanish invasion. Unfortunately, subsequent urban
development has largely altered the city-scape, such that only a few remnants of the pre-
Columbian city remain. The most obvious feature, of course, is the Great Pyramid itself, rising to
over 65 m in height and upon which stands the church dedicated to the Virgin of the Remedies.
The Tlachihualtepetl, or “man-made mountain,” is the largest pyramid in the world by volume,
measuring about 400 m on a side. In comparison, Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun or Egypt’s
Pyramid of Cheops could each fit inside four times over. Cholula’s Great Pyramid was built in at
least four major phases beginning about 500 BCE, with the final major phase dating to about 900
(this date is very speculative). The Pyramid continued in use until about 1200 CE, when a new
cultural group, the Tolteca-Chichimeca, constructed their Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl about a
kilometer away. The Tlachihualtepetl continued as an important shrine to the rain god and as a
cemetery until, in the early Colonial period, it became the base for the Colonial church.

Figure 9: The Great Pyramid of Cholula, circa 1820

Figure 10: The Great Pyramid from the west

The Great Pyramid was the center of an extensive ceremonial complex including patios,
platforms, palaces, and more. Excavations by the Proyecto Cholula between the 1930s and 1970s
exposed numerous building episodes around the base of the Pyramid, as well as exploring the
interior via 8 km of tunnels. On the south side, at the base of a massive staircase, was the Patio
of the Altars, which was built up over six stages from an original depth about five meters below
the current surface. The Patio is bounded by two large platforms that were also modified over
time. The platform architecture consisted of vertical ‘tableros’ painted with polychrome murals
over a curving ‘talud’ that was decorated with a mosaic greca frieze, the same pattern that
symbolized a ‘metropolis’ in Mixtec codex symbolism. The greca frieze at the base of the
staircase was a visual toponym for the Mixtec name for Cholula: ñuu ndiyo, or “city of the great
staircase.” An extensive mural on one of the earliest stages of the platform depicted a series of
figures in the process of drinking, almost a snapshot of the revelry that may have accompanied
religious ceremonies at the pyramid.

Figure 11: The south staircase down to the Patio of the Altars, showing greca frieze on talud
Figure 12: Image of ‘bebedor’ from interior mural from the Patio of the Altars

On the west side of the Great Pyramid is another large architectural feature, the so-called
Piramide Tolteca – so named not because of any Toltec influence but for the extensive use of
Cemento Tolteca in its reconstruction. While the mid-20th century reconstruction is subject to
criticism, elements of the original structure do give a sense of what the facade would have looked
like. In this image, the darker stone is original, surrounded by the cement reconstruction. The
vertical ‘tablero’ is decorated with an interlaced ‘mat’ motif, identical to the ‘mat’ motif found
on Mixtec, Aztec, and Maya imagery where it symbolizes political authority. Conceivably, this
multi-tiered structure may have been the base for a council house, or a platform from which
orations may have been presented to onlookers below.

Figure 13: Mat motif on tablero of Structure 3b on west side of Great Pyramid

Across a broad plaza from the Great Pyramid towards the west is a rectangular mound,
known as the Cerro Cocoyoc. It has never been excavated, so what little is known about it
archaeologically comes from exposed architecture where recent road construction has stripped
away the sides. On the north side, for example, some of the same curved talud found in the Patio
of the Altars suggests contemporaneity. Surface collections from behind (west) of Cerro Cocoyoc
encountered early polychrome pottery suggesting an Early Postclassic occupation. As mentioned
above, the Cerro Cocoyoc is depicted on the Codex of Cholula.

Figure 14: Cerro Cocoyoc, as seen from the Great Pyramid

South of the Cerro Cocoyoc is another pre-Columbian mound, the Cerrito de Acozac. It is
about 20 m in height, but all of the finished architecture was stripped away in antiquity so very
little is known about its chronology. A rescue excavation on its south side encountered
Postclassic materials, including a midden deposit from an obsidian workshop. The image of the
Acozac on the Codex of Cholula indicates that it was already an adobe nucleus in the early
Colonial period. Since Cholula is on an alluvial plain there are no ready quarries for building
materials, and therefore the mounds are built out of adobe blocks covered over with a thin cap of
stone and plaster. The nearest source for the limestone (caliza) building material is at least 50 km
to the southeast, though this source has yet to be verified. Consequently, it is likely that the stone
facade of the Cerrito Acozac, as well as the outer layers of the Tlachihualtepetl itself, were
stripped away to be repurposed, perhaps for the Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl in the Postclassic
period, or later Colonial buildings. A research project is planned to investigate the Cerrito
Acozac to determine the chronology of its construction as well as destruction.

Figure 15: Cerrito Acozac, view from the northeast

 A final mound from the ceremonial zone around the Great Pyramid is the Edificio Rojo,
located to the northeast of the Pyramid. The south facade and staircase of the Edificio Rojo were
exposed by the Proyecto Cholula in the 1960s, as a stucco-covered talud-tablero decorated with a
mural depicting a procession of warriors painted in red. The architectural style of the Edificio has
been compared to that of El Tajin, so tentatively dated to the Epiclassic or Early Postclassic
periods. However, the structure was covered over during a final expansion of the Tlachihualtepetl
to bury the south face and seal the top of the structure beneath about three meters of fill,
including at least two plaster floors. A tunnel dug into the structure found Middle Formative
artifacts associated with architectural features, providing an early date for the development of the
ceremonial precinct. Based on its position to the northeast of the Great Pyramid, it is likely that
the west facade of the Edificio was its primary orientation and faced another open plaza. Plans
are underway for an extensive exploration of the Edificio Rojo beginning this summer.

Figure 16: Staircase on south face of the Edificio Rojo

In popular tradition, Cholula churches were built on top of ancient pyramids, and
supposedly one for every day of the year based on Cortes’ observation of over 400 pyramids. In
fact, there are only about 50 churches in the city, though there are also many smaller chapels.
Looking northward from the Great Pyramid, across the plaza bounded by the Edificio Rojo, is the
Colonial church of Jesus Tlatempa in the distance, suggesting an ancient walkway/calzada
connecting the two pyramids comparable to Teotihuacan’s Avenue of the Dead. Turning in the
opposite direction, facing to the south, another calzada from the base of the great staircase ran
past a large Classic period palace (under the Hotel Villas Arqueologicas) to the modified hill of
Tonanzintla, where there is another Colonial church and also, perhaps ironically, the National
Observatory. Other churches are on elevations, suggesting pyramid bases. And at the far west end
of town the Cerrito of Guadalupe is also topped by a church. Notably, the calzadas have the same
orientation, 25o north of west, as the current grid system of roads, suggesting pre-Columbian
origins for the city plan.
The summer solstice seems to have been one of the important organizing principles for
the Tlachihualtepetl. The western facade of the Pyramid faces the setting sun at solstice, at 25o
north of west, and the two massive stelae in the Patio of the Altars face each other on this
Figure 17: Map of Cholula indicating historic churches

alignment, such that the setting sun would have cast a shadow from the western stela onto the
blank face of the eastern monument as an accurate solar calendar for June 21. In fact, the temple
atop the ‘man-made mountain’ would have been the last thing illuminated on the longest day of
the year.

Figure 18: Stelae in the Patio of the Altares; a) west stela; b) east stela

DISCUSSION
The sacred landscape of Cholula is a palimpsest of overlapping ideologies spanning its
3000 year cultural history. Recently I’ve written about the resilience of the Cholultecans who
endured despite sequential changes in ethnicity and religious ideology. Whereas Colonial period
accounts describe Cholula as the ‘Rome’ of Anahuac (central Mexico) and the center for the cult
of Quetzalcoatl, in fact there is relatively little public iconography associated with the feathered
serpent. More prominent are images relating to the rain deity, especially on ceramic figurines.
But the religious significance of the Great Pyramid in its early centuries remains enigmatic. The
orientation towards the setting sun was undoubtedly significant, as is its position over an
underground spring. One historical account was that the Pyramid was built as a way of ascending
up to heaven (the story is still recounted today), but that God sent St. Michael with his great
sword to chop off the top of the edifice. The relationship between the spring and the man-made
mountain could also relate to the Nahua concept of ‘altepetl,’ or “water mountain,” that served as
a metaphor for both a polity and a noble lineage. Water from the earth connecting through the
mortal plane to the heavens could also be perceived as the vertical column of the sacred
quincunx.
Adding to this mosaic of cultural and spiritual themes is contemporary Cholula, still
steeped in rich religous traditions with roots in the pre-Columbian world. Several ethnographic
projects continue to map out the complex ceremonies practiced in the different barrios of the city.
For example, last week the ‘tlahuanca’ festival was held in the courtyard of the Convent of San
Gabriel, where the different barrios brought their own secret recipes for pulque to share and
compete. Is this ceremony a descendent of the celebration depicted in the Bebedores mural from
the Patio of the Altars? The image of Mary as the Virgin of the Remedies is often portrayed as
emerging from a maguey plant, in a close parallel to the goddess Mayahuel. The annual
pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of the Remedies atop the Great Pyramid is accompanied by
a huge marketplace with items delivered from all over Mesoamerica. To paraphrase Arlo
Guthrie: “you can get anything you want ... at the Cholula fair.” Case in point, a friend traded his
motorcycle for two ostriches during the fair. And Bernal Diaz del Castillo noted that within days
of the Cholula massacre the marketplace was again full, with goods from throughout Mexico and
beyond. Sahagun described the city as featuring numerous vacant buildings reserved for pilgrims.
In this presentation I have attempted to demonstrate the rich potential that Cholula offers
for a wide range of investigations. Much has been done in the past, but much more is available
for future studies. I am in the process of beginning an new program of archaeological research in
the ceremonial zone, but at the same time laying foundations for additional collaborative
projects. Please join me.