The remains of an old Aztec palace which was the home of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés were discovered under an emblematic building in the center of Mexico, we learned Monday from government sources.
Beneath the imposing building of the Nacional Monte de Piedad, in the middle of central Mexico City, were hidden basalt floors corresponding to an open space in the palace of Axayácatl, the “ tlatoani ” (Aztec ruler) of Tenochtitlan between 1469 and 1481, father of the monarch Moctezuma, one of the last kings of the Aztec empire.
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During the excavations, the remains of the main residence of Cortés were also discovered, which then housed the first administrative assembly of New Spain.
This discovery was made during the reinforcement of the Monte de Piedad building, which is three centuries old. In a room adjacent to the work area, archaeologists Raúl Barrera and José María García carried out intensive excavations, uncovering the remains of a room measuring five by four meters, made of cut stones and tezontle, a kind of red volcanic stone.
Subsequent analyzes allowed us to conclude that it was the house of Hernán Cortés, after the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1521
Press release from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH)" Subsequent analyzes have allowed us to conclude that it was the home of Hernán Cortés, after the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlan in 1521, " said in a statement the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). .
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Under the house of Cortés, more than three meters deep, were found the remains of another floor of basalt slabs, but from pre-Hispanic times. Experts argue that " this was part of an open space in the former palace of Axayácatl, probably a patio, " added the INAH.
Beginnings of the Viceroyalty
Barrera and García point out that these vestiges of the beginning of the viceroyalty correspond to reused materials from the palace of Axayácatl which, like other buildings in the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan, were destroyed by the Spanish and their native allies.
These pre-Hispanic soils " were the same as those that the Spanish invaders and their allies traversed when they arrived at Tenochtitlan on November 8, 1519, " notes Barrera. The basements of the historic center of the Mexican capital, where the ancient Tenochtitlan was built, remain an inexhaustible source of archaeological discoveries.