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The Great Pyramid of Cholula - The World's Largest Pyramid

Mexican city Cholula was hiding a mud-brick ancient Pyramid, known as Great Pyramid of Cholula, under the earth for thousands of years until it was discovered in 1910 by locals constructing an insane asylum at the base.

From a distance the pyramid appears to be a natural hill topped by a church.
Image Source: commons.wikimedia.org

According to the Guinness World Records, Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtepetl ("man-made mountain”) by locals, is the largest pyramid in the world and also the largest monument ever constructed anywhere, by any civilisation, to this day. The pyramid stands at 55 m (180 ft) above the surrounding plain with a total volume estimated at over 4.45 million m³ which is nearly twice the volume of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

Model of the Cholula Pyramid site at the site museum in Puebla, Mexico.
Image Source: en.wikipedia.org

Construction of Great Pyramid of Cholula probably harks back to 3rd century BC. Initially there was a core structures of the complex (dedicated to the god Quetzalcóatl). Successive ethnic groups of people built (and improved) upon this core structure till 8th-9th century AD. In total there might be around six superimposed structures that were built within a time-frame of over 1,200 years.

Artist's conception of what the pyramid might have looked like.
Image Source: en.wikipedia.org

Image Credit: Omar Barcena/Flickr

On Oct 12th 1519, Hernan Cortez and his Spanish army marched into the city, looted religious treasures and massacred 10 percent of the city population within 3 hours. Later invaders established the aforementioned church - the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remediosa - as a symbol of Christian conquest atop the ‘hilly’ surface of the Great Pyramid of Cholula what they believed was a big hill as pyramid was already thousands of years old and entirely overgrown by vegetation.

Sources: realmofhistory.com, wikipedia.org


This post first appeared on Unbelievable Info, please read the originial post: here

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The Great Pyramid of Cholula - The World's Largest Pyramid

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