The maze of streets crisscrossing the historic centre is an invitation to explore Mexico City’s emblematic buildings. The Templo Mayor and its museum are reminders of the Aztec presence; the Palacio Nacional and Catedral Metropolitana lining the Zóca..

Among the 8,000 or so objects found on the site, the flint and obsidian sacrificial knives , some of them with stone eyes, send shivers down your spine. The famous basalt Coyolxauhqui Disk represents the goddess of the Moon in a very human way. T..

It would be impossible to sum up the National Museum of Anthropology here. Its exceptional collections highlight the diversity of cultures that make up Mexico, juxtaposing Pre-Columbian civilisations with the current reality of the country’s indigeno..

During the classical era, Teotihuacán asserted itself on all levels as the most important city in Meso-America. Nowadays it is the largest archaeological site on the high Mexican plateau, as remarkable for the size and precision of its urban planning..

This vast quadrilateral (400m sides) was Teotihuacán’s centre of political and religious power. It did not play a defensive role, its Spanish name of “citadel” notwithstanding. The large low-lying platform ( patio escondido ) is laid out like an espl..

The pyramid that supported the Temple of Quetzalcóatl boasts a marvellous stone décor highlighting the talud-tablero style. Feathered serpent heads on the tablero (vertical part) alternate with stylised masks of an old water deity (with circled e..

The Pyramid of the Sun, the largest ancient building on the American continent (65m high with 225m sides), gets its name from its position relative to the sun’s orbit. It was built above a spring, making it perhaps a symbolic mother-mountain. A templ..

The slopes of the Pyramid of the Moon, standing above the square of the same name, display a more sophisticated architectural style than those on the Pyramid of the Sun. Fascinating excavations have been carried out on the building for the past ten y..

The Palace of the Quetzal-Butterfly owes its name to the main motif on the patio columns: a mythological bird with the body of a butterfly. This residential complex, on the western side of Plaza de la Luna, was where the priests in charge of worship ..

The Museum of the Vice-Royalty is located in a vast complex that was both a place of worship and of study for the Jesuits and Franciscans in Tepotzotlán starting in the 16C. Its different buildings (Church of San Francisco Javier, cloisters and chape..

The Battle Mural shows forty-seven figures with intertwining bodies occupying a whole side of the Plaza Norte in one long frieze. The incredibly dynamic composition illustrates not a fight, but a ritual sacrifice. The disarmed losers put up not the s..

Eight images of Quetzalcóatl, the Feathered Serpent, cover the tableros (vertical parts) of this temple. Next to them are Maya figures and a symbol of the “New Fire”, the 5 th sun. Above them you can see other noble figures facing the stairway. Ca..

Santa Prisca is one of the most touching churches in the country. Clearly designed to grab your attention from all angles, it looks from afar to be amidst the roofs. Between 1748 and 1758 José de la Borda used his almost unlimited means and the worke..

The former convent of Santo Domingo is an exceptional setting for an equally exceptional museum. The art objects, crafts and weapons on display provide an extremely interesting panorama of the different civilisations that have lived in the State of O..

Built on the summit of a levelled hill above Oaxaca, Monte Albán and its magnificent proportions are best seen from building E in the low-angled light of the early morning or late afternoon. The Zapotecs occupied the site from the 5C BC, making it th..

A panoramic road from Tuxtla Gutiérrez runs above the Río Grijalva framed by the high walls of the Cañon del Sumidero - reaching as high as 1,000m. It is dotted with several viewpoints affording magnificent vistas, the most spectacular being the mir..

The Chiapas fog hugs the slopes of the hill on which Palenque, one of the most prestigious Mayan sites, was built. The tropical forest had taken over this huge stone sanctuary, whose peak was in the 8C AD. It wasn’t dug out until the 19C, when the En..

The discovery in 1952 of the extraordinary tomb of King Pakal under the Temple of the Inscriptions shook up the conventional belief that the pyramids were simply foundations supporting the sanctuaries. Surrounded by jade jewellery, the king’s remai..

A vast 10m-high platform is the base for the palace, a maze-like architectural complex built during the 7C. It features courtyards, stairways, corridors and underground galleries, where you can easily get lost while admiring the magnificent stone and..

Uxmal, particularly beautiful at sunset, is one of the best preserved Mayan cities and was the centre of the cultural area known as Puuc (the name comes from a range of hills stretching over the northwestern Yucatán) that flourished between the 7C an..