Dahboo77: The Giant Pyramid Hidden Inside a Mountain Dwarfs the Great Pyramid in Giza

This temple at Cholula dwarfs the Great Pyramid at Giza, yet it went unnoticed by Spanish invaders. Why?

They arrived in their thousands. Hardened by months of war with ferocious natives, near-starvation and exotic diseases, Hernan Cortez and his Spanish army marched into the great city of Cholula expecting a fight.

But this was a sacred city. Instead of investing in weapons, its inhabitants built temples; it was said they had a holy pyramid for every day of the year. After such generosity, their gods would surely protect them.

October 12th 1519 was a bloodbath on an unprecedented scale, leaving 10% of the city’s population dead. This was a grave error indeed. As the army stormed its streets, religious treasures were looted and the precious pyramids went up in smoke. Within three hours they had murdered 3,000 people. October 12th 1519 was a bloodbath on an unprecedented scale, leaving 10% of the city’s population dead.

Eventually the Spaniards settled in Cholula (now part of Mexico), erecting enough of their own buildings that the city is now known for having a church for every day of the year. The final touch – a symbol of their Christian conquest – is the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remediosa, built on what they thought was a large hill.

But not all is as it seems. Beneath the tiny church, hiding under tufts of grass, trees and soil, is an ancient pyramid of truly gigantic proportions. Standing 450 metres wide and 66 metres tall, from end to end the Great Pyramid of Cholula is equivalent to nine Olympic sized swimming pools.

For an obscure temple no one’s heard of, Cholula holds an impressive array of records: it’s the largest pyramid on the planet, with a base four times larger than the Great Pyramid at Giza and nearly twice the volume.

Never mind the largest pyramid – it’s the largest monument ever constructed anywhere, by any civilisation, to this day. To locals it’s aptly known as Tlachihualtepetl (“man-made mountain”). Thanks to the church on top, it’s also the oldest continuously occupied building on the continent.

The story goes that until the locals began construction of an insane asylum in 1910, nobody knew it was a pyramid. Certainly, by the time Cortéz and his men arrived, it was already a thousand years old and entirely concealed by vegetation.

Early excavations revealed a series of gruesome findings, including the deformed skulls of decapitated children.

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160812-the-giant-pyramid-hidden-inside-a-mountain?ocid=ww.social.link.twitter

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