ZONA ARQUEOLOGICA EL TEPOZTECO

The present village is located on the site of a pre-Hispanic village built at the beginning of the XIII century, under the impulse of a branch of the Xochimilcas; the city would later fall under the yoke of the Aztec Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlán. Its ceremonial center dedicated to the god Tepoztecatl, which constitutes the archaeological zone that we visit today, is erected on a ledge on the heights of the imposing sierra. Originally, this area was completely leveled and divided into successive terraces. The archaeological zone is visited especially for the beautiful views that it offers on the valley. The archaeological remains are limited to a small pyramid very badly restored, whose walls of the main chamber are nevertheless decorated with some bas-reliefs to discover. The ascent towards the temple is rather hard, but constitutes a kind of obliged passage for the hundreds of visitors who flee the city of Mexico for a day trip to Tepoztlán on weekends. So prefer the week to go there, the suffering of the ascent is largely compensated by the beauties of the landscape at the arrival.

On September 7, the inhabitants of the village go up during the night towards the pyramid in order to carry out a ceremony to commemorate their ancestors. They spend the night on the spot then go down again in the early morning. During this second day, representations of prehispanic dance take place on the central place.