Templo Mayor

In March 2016, CyArk documented Templo Mayor in the historic center of Mexico City. CyArk offered its assistance to site conservators who were recording some of the more fragile artifacts located around the temple along with several ornate objects from the adjacent museum. As transporting the original artifacts is a dangerous endeavor, museum staff requested 3D scans in order to create replicas that can be loaned to other museums.This research project was undertaken in collaboration with the Templo Mayor Museum. We would like to thank our partners at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) for the opportunity to assist with their work and our partners at Leica Geosystems and Artec 3D for lending equipment in support of the project. Templo Mayor was one the principal temples of Tenochtitlan, the former capital of the Aztec empire. Built sometime after 1325 CE, the structure was dedicated to two Aztec deities, Huitzilopochtli the god of war and Tlaloc the god of rain and agriculture. The temple was surrounded by a serpent wall and the entire structure would have been brightly painted. Templo Mayor was destroyed by the Spanish in 1521 C.E. to make way for construction of a new cathedral. The ruins were buried and largely forgotten until their rediscovery in the 1970's. External Project Link: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/1gKSZwmOQWQCIg Additional Info Link: https://cyark.org/projects/templo-mayor