Embedded Platform

Excavations carried out between 1917 and 1920 showed that the principal building of the Citadel group contained a superposition of structures. Several decades after the Temple of the Plumed Serpent was built, its principal façade was covered by the Embedded Platform and remained so until the fall of Teotihuacán. The pyramidal platform measures 50 m. wide at the base and consists of four stepped bodies in the slope-and-panel design typical of Teotihuacán style. On its west façade, a single flight of steps leads to the upper part, where a temple stood. Unlike the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, its decoration was limited to mural paintings on the panels over a red background, part of which survives. The platform's construction over the friezes of the Temple of the Plumed Serpent probably resulted from changes in the ruling groups. Evidence also indicates that between 340 and 400 A.D., the front of the building and its southeast corner were looted, and from that corner a tunnel was made to tombs beneath the building.

State of Mexico · Mexico