Alfred Percival Maudslay

“ The Teocalli of Texcoco had five or six steps more than that of Mexico. If one were to ascend to the top of the chapel of San Francisco in Mexico, which has an arched roof and is of considerable height, and look over Mexico, the temple of the devil would have a great advantage in height, and it was a wonderful sight to view from it the whole of Mexico and the towns in the neighbourhood. ”

“ They build a square tower one hundred and fifty paces, or rather more, in length, and one hundred and fifteen or one hundred in breadth. The foundation of this building is solid; when it reaches the height of two men, a passage is left two paces wide on three sides, and on one of the long sides steps are made until the height of two more men is reached, and the edifice is throughout solidly built of masonry. ”

“ E. Seler in his pamphlet entitled ‘Die Ausgrabungen am Orte des Haupttempels in Mexico’ (1904) .
We know from Cortés’s own account, confirmed by Gomara, that the Great Teocalli was so close to the quarters of the Spaniards that the Mexicans were able to discharge missiles from the Teocalli into the Spanish quarters, and according to Sahagun’s account the Mexicans hauled two stout beams to the top of the Teocalli in order to hurl them against the Palace of Axayacatl so as to force an entrance. ”

“ Others count thirteen months to the year. At all events the steps were arranged on three sides of the ascent.
The principal ascent faced the south, the second the east, and the third the west, and on the north side were three walls like a chamber open to the south. It had a great court and Mexican plaza all surrounded by a stone wall, massive and strong, [of which] the foundations were more than a fathom and the height [of the wall] was that of four men’s stature. It had three gateways, two of them small, one facing the east and the other the west ”

“ On the top, where there was a pavement and small plaza rather more than seventy feet wide, two very large altars had been built, one apart from the other, set almost at the edge or border of the tower on the east side, so that there was only just sufficient ground and space for a man to walk [on the east side] without danger of falling down from the building. ”

“ There have never been seen or heard of before such temples as those of this land of Anahuac or New Spain, neither for size and design nor for anything else; and as they rise to a great height they must needs have strong foundations; and there was an 16endless number of such temples and altars in this country, about which a note is here made so that those who may come to this country from now onwards may know about them, for the memory of them all has already almost perished. ”

“ The Spaniards attacked this said tower two or three times and endeavoured to ascend it, but it was very lofty, and the ascent was steep, for it had more than one hundred steps, and as those on the top were well supplied with stones and other arms, and were protected because we were unable to occupy the other terraces, every time the Spaniards began the ascent they were rolled back again and many were wounded. ”

“ The Arzobispado, which still occupies the same site in the street of that name, must therefore have been originally built on the solid foundation formed by the base of the Teocalli of Tezcatlipoca.
The Palace of Axayacatl. (Tracing A2.) (‘Descripción de las dos Piedras, etc.,’ 1790, by Don Antonio de Leon y Gama. Bustamante, Edition ii. p. 35.) ”

“ In the same note Icazbalceta discusses the measurements of the Solares, which appear to have varied between 141 × 141 Spanish feet (= 130 3⁄4′ × 1303⁄4′ English) and 150 × 150 Spanish feet (= 139′ × 139′ English) , which latter measurement was established by an Act of the Cabildo in Feb. 1537. ”