Mexico’s largest pyramid is in Cholula, a structure so massive that there is a church literally built on top of it. The man-made structure actually looks like a big hill overgrown with grass and shrubs. We’ll visit the site before having the opportunity to walk through a series of tunnels that archaeologists dug inside the pyramid to study the many superimposed structures inside! After visiting the archaeological site we will cross the street to see the small but concise on-site museum. This is a unique experience!
From there we’ll head over to two small nearby churches: San Francisco Acatepec and Santa Maria Tonantzintla. They represent the best examples of exuberant popular baroque art that exist in Mexico. Local Indians were invited by Christian priests in the 1700s to decorate the interior of the churches and the outcome is exquisitely ornate baroque temples like no others – angels wearing feathered headdresses and intricate, embedded Mesoamerican symbols decorating the stucco figures covering every inch of the the walls – a perfect example of syncretic art (known as tequitqui or Indoamerican tributary art) fostered by early evangelists.
This is a day trip, given that Cholula is approximately 2 hours away from Mexico City. If you need, we can arrange transportation to and from the site.