{"id":2320,"date":"2018-08-15T06:26:05","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T06:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/?p=2320"},"modified":"2026-02-27T08:46:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T08:46:00","slug":"aztec-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/aztec-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"Aztec Architecture: A Detailed Summary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aztec architecture was a central aspect of Aztec culture<\/a>. In fact, Aztec architecture impacted the daily lives<\/a> of the Aztec people, since it influenced religious temples, pyramids and Aztec homes. The\u00a0Aztec Empire<\/a>\u00a0was a civilization in central Mexico that thrived in the time before the arrival of European explorers during the\u00a0Age of Exploration<\/a>.\u00a0 Throughout its history as a civilization the Aztec Empire expanded across much of central Mexico and other surrounding areas, to become the most dominant and powerful people in the region. \u00a0Tenochtitlan<\/a>, the main Aztec city (or altepetl), was the center of this vast empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AZTEC ARCHITECTURE – INFLUENCE OF THE TOLTEC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Aztec were master builders and constructed many different types of structures, such as pyramids, ball courts, plazas, temples, and homes.\u00a0 However, for the Aztec, they considered the\u00a0Toltec<\/a>\u00a0to be a major influence on their own architecture. The Toltec were a Mesoamerican civilization that was located in central Mexico from about 900 CE to 1168 CE.\u00a0 They are an important civilization in the history of Mesoamerican culture because many different later societies in the same area considered the Toltec to be an example of the height of craftsmanship and civilization.\u00a0 For example, the Aztec considered themselves to be the successors to the earlier Toltec.\u00a0 In fact, the Aztec admired the Toltec for many different aspects, including:\u00a0art, architecture, craftsmanship and culture.\u00a0 Some historians have questioned whether or not the Aztec people were the descendants of the earlier Toltec society, but this suggestion has also been made about other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, including the Teotihuacan<\/a>.\u00a0 Regardless, the Toltec language was Nahuatl<\/a>, which was the same as the Aztec.\u00a0 As well, the Nahuatl word for Toltec, in the Aztec society, came to mean \u2018artisan\u2019 in reference to their view that the Toltec were the height of culture,\u00a0art\u00a0and design in Mesoamerica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Toltec\"
Toltec Warrior Statues at Tula.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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AZTEC ARCHITECTURE – AZTEC TEMPLES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Aztec Empire is famous for many of its features including the amazing architectural styles that the Aztec people used in the construction of their buildings and cities.\u00a0 In fact, Aztec architecture followed similar principles to other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations, including, the use of a grid system in city building and the construction of large temples in the shape of a pyramid.\u00a0 For instance, the pyramid was a central component of Aztec construction and featured prominently in their own city-state (altepetl) in Tenochtitlan<\/a>.\u00a0Templo Mayor<\/a>\u00a0is the name of the main temple in the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Templo
‘Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan’ by Diego Rivera. (1900)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Structurally, the Templo Mayor was a stepped-pyramid with two shrines constructed on top of it and it was located in the center of Tenochtitlan.\u00a0 Unfortunately, very little of the original pyramid remains and most descriptions of the temple come from historical accounts, including those of the Spanish conquistadors who witnessed it during their\u00a0conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1521.\u00a0 This is because, much of the Templo Mayor and Tenochtitlan were destroyed by the Spanish when they conquered the city and defeated the Aztec Empire.\u00a0 Furthermore, following the destruction of the Tenochtitlan, the Spanish (led by\u00a0Hern\u00e1n Cortes<\/a>) built their own city on the ruins of the former Aztec capital, which is today the modern-day Mexico City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Templo Mayor that the Spanish conquistadors witnessed in 1521, was supposedly the seventh and final version of the great temple.\u00a0 Historians believe that the great temple was first built just after the founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325 and then went through many different additions throughout the history of the Aztec.\u00a0 Originally, the temple was quite small and constructed out of earth and wood.\u00a0 Then, successive Aztec leaders, known as\u00a0huey tlatoani<\/a>, built onto the temple.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan (Templo Mayor can be seen in the center)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u200bModern excavations of the ruins of Templo Mayor show that the additions to the temple were literally built on top of the old structure, thus creating many different layers to the temple that show its history with each layer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final version of the Templo Mayor (and the one that the Spanish witnessed in 1521) was likely constructed sometime at the end of the 15th century.  It was a pyramid with four different levels or terraces and two sets of staircases that reached to the top platform.  The temple reached as high as 180 feet (60 meters) and was topped with a large platform.  This top platform contained two shrines to two different Aztec gods that played a significant role in the religion of the Aztec.  Spanish records report that the pyramid was painted in bright colors and contained artistic reliefs of serpents and Aztec warriors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Templo Mayor highlights several key features of Aztec architecture.\u00a0 First, they did not replace large structures such as temples, rather they simply built over top of them and made them bigger and more elaborate.\u00a0 This has been witnessed in several Aztec archaeological sites, but is likely best seen in the ruins found of the Templo Mayor.\u00a0 Second, the Aztec were master craftsmen and were easily able to work with stone top build large and elaborate temples.\u00a0 Third, Aztec culture featured heavily in their architecture, including their religious beliefs, gods, and astronomy.\u00a0 For instance, several images reappear in Aztec temples, including: eagle, serpent, conch shell and sea creatures.\u00a0 These all played important roles in\u00a0Aztec cultural beliefs<\/a>\u00a0and symbolized different aspects of Aztec life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aztec
Gods and religious traditions were an important part of Aztec culture. This image from the Codex Borbonicus, shows the Aztec gods: Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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AZTEC ARCHITECTURE – AZTEC HOMES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u200bIn contrast to the large stone temples, Aztec homes were primarily built from wood logs that were interlinked.  They may have also used mud bricks (adobe).  The floor of the homes was usually just dirt or may have been made of stone.   The roof was usually made from small sticks woven together or a type pf thatch (straw, leaves, grass, etc).  Generally, the homes for the middle class (macehualtin) were one single room and the family would sleep in this room at night and have a shrine to honor the gods during the day.  With that said, homes for the nobles (pipiltin) were much more elaborate to distinguish their wealth and prestige in society.  For instance, the homes of nobles were generally more spacious contained more ornate artwork related to Aztec religion and customs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Aztec
Artistic representation of Aztec daily life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aztec architecture is characterized by amazing pyramids, intricate stone carvings, and large ceremonial squares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5718,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":7,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[78,77,15,79],"class_list":["post-2320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aztec-empire","tag-ancient-history","tag-aztec-empire","tag-history","tag-mesoamerica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2320"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5841,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320\/revisions\/5841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crunchlearning.com\/website_ec2cbfb0\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}