Cholula

One of the great cities and religious centers of ancient Mexico, first occupied c 800-300 BC. Cholulu, Nahuatl for "place of springs" was a town dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl and is known for its many domed churches which the Spanish built on top of the natives' temples. Cholula was a major center of the pre-conquest Mesoamerican Indian culture as far back as the Early Classic period (100-600 AD) and reached its maximum growth in the Late Classic period (900-1200). It came within the orbit of the Teotihuacán civilization during which time a major pyramid was built and then enlarged three times to produce the largest pyramid in Mesoamerica (177 ft or 55 m high). Tunneling has revealed the older pyramids nesting inside the final version. Around 1300 AD Cholula became a center of the Mexteca-Puebla culture. Cholula polychrome wares were highly prized by the Aztecs. When the Spaniards reached Cholula they found a splendid city dominated by the ruins of the Great Pyramid. The Cholulans who were makers and traders of textiles and pottery were Nahuatl speakers and at the time of the conquest owed a nominal allegiance to Montezuma. It was one of the independent Post-Classic centers to survive after the fall of Teothihuacan.

One of the independent Post-Classic centres of Mexico to survive after the fall of Teotihuacan, and the major locus for the production of the elaborate polychrome wares of the Mixteca-Puebla art style (see Mixtec). Located in the state of Puebla in Mexico, it is dominated by the largest pyramid in Mesoamerica. This structure covers an area of 16 hectares and rises to a height of more than 30 metres. Limited excavation via tunnelling shows four earlier pyramids nested inside the Great Pyramid, the earliest of which goes back to the Pre-Classic Period when the site was first occupied. Cholula survived as a political and mercantile centre until the time of the Spanish and appears to have flourished in spite of having been dominated by a series of conquering groups including the historic Olmec, Tolteca-Chichimec and the Aztec.