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The Place of Gods: Teotihuacán, Mexico

Teotihuacán is a magnificent archaeological zone situated about 50km northeast of Mexico City. The vast grid-plan city was the biggest pre-Hispanic settlement in all of Mexico.

What happened here?

The building of a city on the site of Teotihuacán began around the time of Christ, although the Pyramides del Sol y de la Luna were completed some time between 150 and 300 AD. Incredibly, the city was built without the use of metal, cattle, or even the wheel.

At it's height in the 6th century AD, there were more than 200,000 people living in Teotihuacán, and it is likely that this was the biggest of all the pre-Hispanic Empires, controlling southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and parts of Honduras. Teotihuacán was an advanced civilisation, which had writing, books, a numerical system and a religious calendar.

In the 7th century AD, Teotihuacán was burned, plundered and abandoned. No one really knows the reason for this sudden downfall, and archaeologists can only guess at the history, culture, society, language and religion of the people who lived here. Nonetheless, Teotihuacán exerted a great deal of influence on later cultures: the Aztecs adopted a number of their gods and Aztec priests used to make pilgrimages here. In fact, it was the Aztecs who gave the place the name Teotihuacán, which means 'the place that men became gods'.

What's there to see and do?

The site is open daily from 8am to sunset, though it's advisable to arrive early, as even if you have a whole day to spend at the site it's impossible to see everything.

Explore the four mile long Street of the Dead, the Citadel complex, which was the residence of the city's ruler, numerous palaces and temples and climb the majestic Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, from the top of which you can look out over the entire site.

Visit the museum, located just outside the complex, where artifacts, maps and models of the site are on display.