The Holy City of Teotihuacan 🇲🇽 Mexico Pre-Hispanic World Heritage Site

[Music] Te'o Teja Quan located in the highlands of central Mexico is one of the world's most impressive archaeological sites few cities in the world have been considered worthy of being inhabited by gods who are accustomed to occupying loftier realms than those people by mere mortals Te'o Teja Kwon is such a city and a thousand years of civilization which can still be felt today along its wide avenues projecting out towards the cardinal points of the universe had to pass before this place could be elevated to the ranks of a mythical city it's a divine yet human city patterned with streets and dwelling places which bore witness to bustling activity when the pyramid of the sun and the pyramid of the moon were completed the locus of construction at a Uchiha Kwan shifted to the southern end of the street of the Dead where a complex called the cuida delle a sunken large plaza the cuida della is a large enclosure located at the geographic center of the city it measures about 400 metres on one side and the interior space is surrounded by four large platforms surmounted by pyramids the feathered serpent pyramid was the central pyramid of this large complex adorned with large sculptural heads it was one of the most monumental structures in Tod ha Kuan presumed to be warriors the militaristic connotations have influenced interpretations of the building's exterior the Temple of the feathered serpent may have been the first use of the architectural profile known as tall or table row at alt ha Kuan in toluca bolero the rectangular panel the table row sits atop a sloping panel the Talon both surfaces could be decorated most often with mural painting this distinctive profile dominates the architecture of the entire site and is taken as a marker of Tarot to hawk while influenced when it appears in other locations throughout Mesoamerica [Music] Quetzal Kotal the feathered serpent deity of the people of TLT ha Kuan the Mayans and the Aztecs was a popular God in Mesoamerica in pre-columbian times the Quetzal bird with its brilliant colors and long tail feathers combined with the snake perhaps a rattlesnake were the images which defined this God splendid in costume and deadly in appearance the Quetzal Kotal deity had the ability of flight and the gift of life and rebirth the serpent is a common metaphor for rebirth and continuity or resurrection worldwide due to the shedding of its skin and the coiled circular shape that the snake often takes representing eternity the people of tale Teja Kuan believed in ritual sacrifice to satisfy the gods multiple burials were found at the pyramid and it's believed that they were sacrificed as part of the dedication of the temple there are four directions in the world nine layers of their underworld 30 layers of heaven and earth and a ritual calendar of 13 months of 20 days or a 260 day calendar and a solar calendar of 18 months of 20 days [Music] the ceremonial ensemble of tailed Teja Kwon represents a unique artistic achievement as much by the enormous size of the monuments as by the strictness of a layout based on cosmic harmony the art of the Thao to hoc wireless was the most developed among the classic civilizations of Mexico here it's expressed in its successive and complementary aspects the dry and obsessive geometry of the pyramids of the sun and the moon contrast with the sculpted and painted decor of an exceptional richness of capsule Kotal the plumed serpent the avenue of the dead or calzada de los muertos in spanish is one of the most fascinating components of the ruins of Te'o Teja Kwon that are worth exploring the avenue is the main road to the center of the ancient city and the name came from an observation by the Aztecs that the mounds on either side of the street resembled tombs [Music] the primary Avenue runs on a north-south axis for several kilometres and aligns the city approximately 15 degrees east of North towards chair org auditor it ran for more than two and a half kilometers beginning at the moon Plaza to the north and extending beyond the Cuidad Ella and the great compound complexes to the south the Avenue continued even further south terminating near the edge of the mountains the Avenue divided the city into two sections apartment compounds with pyramidal constructions were arranged on both sides of the Avenue often symmetrically in sharing the same orientation this highly planned city layout suggests that the Avenue may have been planned from its earliest phases of urbanization the main sector of the Avenue was evidently the section between the moon pyramid and the Rio San Juan channel lining the immense Avenue of the Dead the unique group of sacred monuments and places of worship at AO Teja Kwan constitutes an outstanding example of a pre-columbian ceremonial Center [Music] at the Avenues halfway point one sees the conjunto Plaza Oster and a residential area which was probably inhabited by priests in the pre-hispanic era Palace complexes organized around plazas are among the most impressive examples of pre-columbian residences [Music] you [Music] the complex Pantheon worshiped by the elite militaristic culture of territory huh Quan consists of several deities that recur in later cultures many of them took animal form who had extensive animal attributes the so-called Great Goddess of Te'o - huh Quan is associated with the spider and is sometimes called the Te'o Teja Quan spider-woman the netted Jaguar is one of the most distinctive gods finally there are two serpent gods the feathered serpent identified by the Aztec name Quetzal Kotal and the fire war serpent later known as the aztec zoo Cotrell although the visual appearance of these gods is fairly well understood their significance and interrelationships are still being studied many animals some of which may have symbolized lesser gods were depicted in tear Teja Kwan art this grid unique in Mesoamerica in its scale and organization implies a high degree of social control presumably an elite group of nobles directed the building projects and coordinated trade and tribute relations with far-flung corners of Mesoamerica according to writings from the 16th century sacrifices practiced by most Exuma every 20 days on the site attested to the persistence of beliefs which may tell to ha Kuan a sacred place of exceptional value [Music] Te'o Teja Kwon was the religious center of Mesoamerica its skyline was dominated by two enormous pyramids which the Aztecs called the pyramid of the sun and the pyramid of the moon-- both linked by a broad avenue entailed Teja Kwan a classic aesthetic evolved emphasizing order and refinement austerely elegant stylized design resulted in the creation of a monumental art of serene simplicity and noble grandeur at the peak of its development the city stretched out over 36,000 square kilometers outside the ceremonial center as originally built the Sun pyramid was approximately 215 by 250 metres at the base and about 63 meters high it was significantly enlarged at least twice in later periods resulting in a final size of 225 meters along each side the pyramid was located on the east side of the Avenue of the Dead in the northern half of the city in addition to its geographic centrality the importance of the pyramid is indicated by a cave located under the structure it's believed by certain scholars that the cave was used for ritual activities and this is why the pyramid was constructed where it is today the pyramid was reconstructed as five stepped platforms but it originally consisted of four step platforms a surmounting temple and the outer side a platform which was built over what was originally the principal facade of the pyramid no information about the temple itself is available since along with the uppermost portion of the pyramid it's been completely destroyed the pyramids of the sun and the moon echo in the shape of the mountain surrounding the valley served as focal points at AO Teja Kwan's urban layout beneath the pyramids or earlier structures perhaps even tombs of tale to her Kwan rulers are to be found within their stone walls one of the largest structures ever built in the ancient Americas its aspect today is the result of reconstruction and consolidation carried out in the early part of the 20th century excavations in 1971 directly under the Pyramid of the Sun revealed a tunnel like cave ending in a clover leaf shaped set of chambers apparently the scene of numerous ancient fire and water rituals the five tiered platform was attached to the front of the moon pyramid it said that the present pyramid has interior structures within it however the pyramid still remains one of the least understood major monuments in TLT hyukkwon the current excavation under the pyramid of the moon-- may be one of the best opportunities to answer questions about the civilization as its underlying old to primitive loose rock construction may have protected buried secrets thus making it difficult to dig under and resistant to looters [Music] the ethnic identity of tailed Teja Kwan's inhabitants is not known no writing system has been discovered here even in the intricate iconography of its many painted murals the original name of the city is not known it was called poo place of the reeds by the contemporary Maya climbing to the apex of this giant will also offer sweeping views of the surroundings as well as an excellent look of the avenue of the dead [Music] the Pyramids at teotihuacán aren't built of solid stone but consist of stone and brick rubble covered with layers of cut stone they are however still an extraordinary achievement especially since all this was done without the benefit of pack animals metal tools or the wheel the pyramid is actually a series of pyramids built on top of each other pyramids and other structures are cascading but not with smooth walls like the Egyptian pyramids and the stones used to construct them aren't as large as those in the Pyramids at Giza the late classic period saw increasing fractionalization among cultures in the place of great States petty kingdoms and militarism arose from the high point of civilization at thao T ha Kuan Wars became the rule of the day and for those unfortunate enough to be captured sacrificed to the gods military empires such as the Toltecs in the 12th century AD which grew up from these warring factions were the cultures met by the Spanish in 1519 and largely eradicated by 1521 the reason why the Spanish were able to conquer the Aztecs in such a short amount of time probably had less to do with their skill of soldiers and more to do with the fact that the Spaniards physically resembled the descriptions in Astec legends at the god Quetzalcoatl [Music] all Thao Teja Qin architecture was thickly covered with stucco which was usually painted with murals the best remaining examples of these frescoes decorate the interior walls of the palaces three styles of murals have been categorised decorative designs with symbolic meaning stylized conceptual images of deities and mythological creatures and narrative scenes that are more perceptual or realistic that abstract and schematic near the pyramid of the moon-- is the Jaguar palace with its motifs of serpents and plumed Jaguars with shells running down their backs [Music] ao Teja Kwan's murals constitute a primary source for understanding the city's religion and social organization found throughout the city on the walls of apartment compounds such as tequila the paintings depict a wide range of images centered around two major deities a female known as the Great Goddess and the male known as the storm God the Great Goddess is usually depicted frontally with additional motifs pertaining to agricultural fertility the storm god is usually shown in profile and is identified by his distinctive facemask and the lightning bolt carried in his left hand animals including coyotes owls and jaguars are also prominent in the murals the paintings were laid down quickly on thinly plastered walls red dominates the color scheme although blues yellows and greens appear the palace at the Quetzal papalote Hall is an elite residential palace thought to be where the high priest lived and is located just southwest of the Pyramid of the moon it's colorfully frescoed rooms arranged around a central patio which is surrounded by a roofed arcade supported by stone columns bearing bas-relief of Quetzal butterflies and water symbols the term palacio de Quetzalcoatl is a completely misleading name first of all it was not a palace in the sense of the place where a ruler and his court lived a few priests may have stayed there for periods of time but probably had their primary residences somewhere else then there's the name Quetzalcoatl it was originally applied because the excavator thought he was uncovering depictions of a strange creature with Quetzal bird and butterfly characteristics [Music] a host of other temples and sacred pyramids the tail to her Kwan landscape and yet despite the incredible size of this ancient city solid evidence as to why it ended and what happened to its inhabitants is still to be found most experts who study tale to her Kwan history subscribed to one or two ideas either that the elite sections of the city were burnt to the ground by the poorer and more disgruntled inhabitants all that a neighboring group such as the Toltecs sacked and burnt the city whichever version sounds most likely to visitors it's believed that the city was burned and was eventually inhabited and preserved first by the Toltecs then later by the Aztecs [Music] the rooms of the palace arranged around a central courtyard with impressively carved pillars the decorations are mainly of the colourful bird capsule and butterflies papalote Hall which gave the palace its name wall paintings were important in Te'o Teja Kuan and some survived in this palace and the subterranean ones along the street of the Dead geometric patterns including a four petal flower were popular as well as animals such as the Jaguar and birds the volcanic glass called obsidian forms the eyes of the birds it seems rather odd that the pieces of stone used to make the pillars a cut into irregularly sized and shaped blocks and also vary in texture and color from each other the building crafts must have employed many artisans of diverse kinds both for construction and for maintenance larger civic ceremonial structures maintain angular accuracy within a fraction of a degree in contrast to many other parts of Mesoamerica and this must have required skilled surveyors cut stone sometimes carved was used for stairways and facades in some of the principal civic ceremonial structures in in at least one case the Quetzal palatal palace four pillars much more commonly wall calls were made of uncut or at most roughly shaped stones [Music] Te'o Teja Quan arose as a new religious center in the Mexican Highland around the time of Christ although it's incipient period the first two centuries BC is poorly understood archaeological data showed that the next two centuries were characterized by monumental construction during which tear Teja Quan quickly became the largest and most populous urban center in the new world by this time the city already appears to have expanded by approximately twenty thousand square kilometers with about 60,000 to 80,000 inhabitants the development of the city seems to have involved inter-site population movements exploitation of natural resources an increase in agricultural production technological inventions the establishment of trading systems and other kinds of socio-political organizations and attractive belief systems by the fourth century unmistakable influences of Teotihuacan were felt throughout most parts of Mesoamerica tayo Teja Quan was the sixth largest city in the world during its period of greatest prosperity with an estimated population of 125,000 the city seems to have functioned for centuries as a well developed urban center until its rather sudden collapse possibly in the seventh century [Music] the plaza of the moon like the central plaza of the quit Adela was probably one of the most sacred ceremonial areas in the metropolis [Music] the Pyramid of the moon forms part of an architectural complex known as the plaza of the moon the spatial arrangement of the structures which form the plaza of the moon complex illustrate that the city was laid out according to a master plan based on symmetry and that it was intentionally integrated into the local geography this is most notable as one walks along the centerline of the Avenue of the Dead and looks towards the upper part of Thera gordo the mountain that dominates the landscape to the north of the Pyramid of the moon the apex of the pyramid coincides exactly with the notch on the upper part of the mountain which lines up exactly with the Avenue because of this it seems that the pan Mesoamerican belief that pyramids represent sacred mountains may have been an important factor in the planning of the ancient city other apparently important factors in the planning of the city with the movements of the astronomical bodies such as the Sun the moon and Venus among others the Avenue of the Dead begins at the plaza of the moon which is formed by 15 pyramidal structures including the Pyramid of the moon and continues more than five kilometres to the south almost at the foot of the mountains that can be seen in the distance for many years it was believed that the pyramid contained earlier structures within its walls but until the Pyramid of the moon project excavations began in 1998 archeologists could only guess at how many there were and how they'd been constructed the Pyramid of the moon was probably completed around 250 AD recent excavations near the base of the pyramid staircase have uncovered the tomb of a male skeleton with numerous grave goods of obsidian and green stone as well as sacrificial animals one of the most significant tombs yet discovered at tail Chi ha Kuan it might indicate that even more important tombs lie buried at the heart of the pyramid shortly after the Olmec civilization vanished the new civilisation arose in the second century BC in the valley of Mexico this grand civilization would dominate the culture of the valley of Mexico for almost a millennium and stands as the most significant cultural influence throughout the history of Central American civilizations this civilization was centered around the city of Teotihuacan at its peak tayo Teja Quan was a city of over 100,000 people not only was it the largest city in America it was one of the largest cities in the ancient world period designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 the archaeological ruins of tayo Teja Kuan have only grown in popularity since [Music]

Channel: Travel And Discover

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Keywords: teotihuacan, teotihuacan travel, teotihuacan mexico documentary, mexico best places to visit, mexico aztec temple, mexico mayan ruins, biggest pyramid, largest pyramid, greatest pyramid, mysterious pyramids, aztec, aztec civilization documentary, aztec mexican, travel and discover, unesco mexico, unesco world heritage sites, azzurra music, pyramid of quetzalcoatl, pre-hispanic city of teotihuacan, pre-hispanic city of chichen-itza, play audio, travel in mexico, tourism mexico

Id: yFTlTe5f1m4

Length: 26min 27sec (1587 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 09 2019