Tlatelolco

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Tlatelolco is an area in Mexico City, centered on the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, a square surrounded on three sides by an excavated Aztec site, a 17th century church caled Templo de Santiago, and the modern office complex of the Mexican foreign ministry.

Plaza de las Tres Culturas

The main temple of Tlatelolco, one of the excavated buildings recently saw the discovery of a pyramid inside the visible temple which is more than 700 years old. This indicates that the site is older than previously thought, according to Instituto Nacional de Archeología y Humanidades (National Institue of Archaeology and Humanities). Because it has design features similar to pyramids found in Tenayuca and Tenochtitlan, it may prove to the the first mixed Aztec and Tlatelolca construction found.^[1]

[edit] History of the area

Originally it was an independent Aztec, but it was absorbed by Tenochtitlán. During ¿Aztec rule, it was the market district of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán, probably one of the largest in the Americas.

According to Conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, it was larger than the city of Sevilla and larger than any market that any of the Spaniards had seen, even those of Venice and Constantinople, with about 20,000 to 40,000 people trading.

When Hernán Cortés laid siege to Tenochtitlán, they conquered and razed it district by district. The surrounding Aztec cities surrendered to Cortés, but the Tlatelolcas remained with the Aztec (Tenochcas). The Aztecs, led by Cuauhtemoc, were finally confined to Tlaltelolco, where they made their last stand, and were defeated beside the Tlatelolcas and slaughtered by the conquistadors.

Over 40,000 Aztec men, women, and children perished at Tlatelolco on August 13, 1521.

Former foreign ministry building

The Nonoalco-Tlatelolco housing project, built in the 1960s, is served by Metro Tlatelolco. It is also home to the pyramid-shaped Banobras building, which houses a 47-bell carillon. At 125 meters, this is the world's tallest carillon tower. There is also a building covered with white marble that is home of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Mexico) (SRE).

In 1967, the Treaty of Tlatelolco signed here, with the aim of establishing a nuclear weapon-free zone throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Since then, all the region's countries have signed and ratified the treaty.

On October 2, 1968, ten days before the start of the 1968 Summer Olympics the plaza was the scene of the Tlatelolco massacre, in which more than 300 student protesters were killed by the army and police.

On September 19, 1985, many housing buildings were destroyed or suffered damages due to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. One structure, the "Nuevo León" building, became a symbol of the Mexican people's solidarity during the disaster, represented by a small square in the spot where the building collapsed. Among the many others, Plácido Domingo labored there to help to rescue survivors.