Main Temple of Texcoco (Huey Teōcalli)

The Templo Mayor of Texcoco was the main ceremonial center of the Acolhua lordship, comparable in hierarchy to that of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. Sources describe it as a space of great magnificence, with monumental staircases and a double shrine, dedicated to deities that reflected the Acolhua worldview, especially the creator god Tloque Nahuaque ya Huitzilopochtli (Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Obras históricas, 1975; Pomar, Relación de Texcoco, 1582/1891).

The chronicler Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl recounts that this temple was among the most sumptuous precincts in the city, and that large-scale ceremonies were held there that articulated the political and religious aspects of the Acolhua kingdom. Similarly, Juan Bautista Pomar also attests to its ritual importance and its central role in Texcocan ceremonial life.

Archaeological and ethnohistorical investigations, such as the thesis of Gustavo Coronel Sánchez (ENAH, 2005), propose that the temple was located in the current center of Texcoco, at the intersection of Juárez Sur and Arteaga streets, where rescue excavations have found remains of pre-Hispanic foundations associated with main structures of the ceremonial precinct.

This information is complemented by the contemporary location proposal developed in the document Mapas Acolhuacan, which integrates the reading of colonial sources with direct observation of the urban layout, remaining mounds, and the relationship with colonial churches built on ancient foundations. This hypothesis places the Templo Mayor slightly south of the area indicated by archaeological studies, based on correlations between indigenous toponymy, the distribution of ancient neighborhoods, and visible remains in the current layout of Texcoco (Ojeda, Mapas Acolhuacan, 2025).