Aztec architecture: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:34, 18 May 2025

Revision as of 08:22, 24 May 2025

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Aztec architecture reflects the migration of the Aztec culture across present-day [[Mexico]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Aguilar-Moreno|first=Manuel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZseasJq3WzEC&dq=aztec+architecture&pg=PR5|title=Handbook to Life in the Aztec World|date=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-533083-0|language=en}}</ref> The style of early Aztec pyramids was influenced by those of Classic and other Postclassic [[Mesoamerican architecture|Mesoamerican]] societies.<ref name=":0" /> Aztec architecture subsequently influenced later Mesoamerican styles.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rice|first=Don Stephen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k2uX2NnOH9EC&pg=PA295|title=Latin American Horizons: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 11th and 12th October 1986|date=1993|publisher=Dumbarton Oaks|isbn=978-0-88402-207-7|language=en}}</ref> As Manuel Aguilar-Moreno writes, "Aztec architecture was heavily influenced by the [[Toltec]] of [[Pueblo|Colhuacan]], the [[Tepanec]] of [[Azcapotzalco]], and the Acolhua of [[Texcoco, State of Mexico|Tetzcoco]]".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Aguilar-Moreno |first1=Manuel |title=Handbook to Life in the Aztec World |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533083-0 |page=217 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZseasJq3WzEC&dq=aztec+architectural+style&pg=PR5 |access-date=7 March 2023}}</ref> It is important to note that since the Aztec Empire was largely built through conquest, the Aztecs had the challenge of incorporating the ethnic groups of the regions they conquered into one unified empire. By having a distinct architectural style, the Aztec Empire was able to promote its worldview and showcase the power of the Empire's military.<ref name="Oxford University Press">{{cite book |last1=Aguilar-Moreno |first1=Manuel |title=Handbook to Life in the Aztec World |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533083-0 |page=218 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZseasJq3WzEC&dq=aztec+architectural+style&pg=PR5 |access-date=7 March 2023}}</ref>

The ancient Aztecs focused on cosmology, astronomy, and religion as their main sources of inspiration. Aztec religious beliefs are reflected in the designs of the religious structures as well as domestic structures.<ref name=":0" /> Research into the significance of building alignment in Aztec culture has shown that the dates of sunrises and sunsets along architectural orientation exhibit a pattern of separated intervals that are largely multiples of 13 and 20 days. This detail suggests to experts that the orientation of these structures was related to the [[Mesoamerican calendars|Mesoamerican calendrical system]]. It has also been discovered that the dates that occur most frequently in these orientations align with important days in the ritual agricultural cycle of the Aztecs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Šprajc |first1=Ivan |title=Astronomical Alignments at the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan, Mexico |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/002182860003102502 |journal=Journal for the History of Astronomy |year=2000 |volume=31 |issue=25 |publisher=Science History Publications, Ltd. |access-date=7 March 2023 |page=1|doi=10.1177/002182860003102502 |s2cid=117355888 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== History ==

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The Aztecs had advanced knowledge of building techniques, and they knew how to adapt their techniques to the local geology and terrain of an area, particularly the soft soil. The builders traditionally constructed stone bases for the temples. J. A. Joyce writes that "[t]he physical geography of Central America was favorable to the rise of the art of building in stone."<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Joyce|first=J. A.|date=1911|title=Some Features of Mexican Architecture|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/858506|journal=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs|volume=19|issue=99|pages=154–163|jstor=858506|issn=0951-0788}}</ref> Some structures, such as the [[Templo Mayor]] of Tenochtitlan were constructed on top of many hundreds of support piles to help stabilize the building in the marshy terrain surrounding Tenochtitlan.<ref>Wedekind, W., Ruedrich, J. & Siegesmund, S. Natural building stones of Mexico–Tenochtitlán: their use, weathering and rock properties at the Templo Mayor, Palace Heras Soto and the Metropolitan Cathedral. Environ Earth Sci 63, 1787–1798 (2011). {{doi|10.1007/s12665-011-1075-z}}</ref>

The Aztecs were also known to use gravity to create a running water system, bringing fresh water to the city grid. They also employed terracing to enhance agricultural productivity.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Arco|first1=Lee J.|last2=Abrams|first2=Elliot M.|date=Dec 2006|title=An essay on energetics: the construction of the Aztec chinampa system|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/217578329|journal=Antiquity|volume=80|issue=310|pages=906–918|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00094503|s2cid=162934575 |issn=1745-1744|id={{ProQuest|217578329}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Instead of demolishing old temples and building a new one at the same site, the Aztecs sometimes built over the existing structures, which resulted in larger and more detailed pyramids.<ref name=":0" /> Some temples have been found to have at least four or five layers.

== Relationship with Aztec culture ==

The Aztecs designed their buildings to be functional for everyday life as well as having a major importance on buildings for religious practices, and for the gods that they worshiped. The architectural style of the Aztecs reflected relationships with a higher power. In Tenochtitlan, the layout of the city represented the birth of [[Huītzilōpōchtli|Huitzilopochtli]],<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Towards an understanding of Aztec architecture and urban planning|url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0228255|publisher=University of British Columbia|date=2016|first=García Ocampo|last=Rivera}}</ref> the Aztec god of the sun and war.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boone |first1=Elizabeth |title=Incarnations of the Aztec Supernatural: The Image of Huitzilopochtli in Mexico and Europe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1006524 |journal=Transactions of the American Philosophical Society |year=1989 |volume=79 |issue=2 |doi=10.2307/1006524 |jstor=1006524 |access-date=6 March 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[teocalli]], or pyramid-temples, were significant to Aztec religious practices. They were the sites of religious celebrations and rituals.<ref name=":0" /> The temples represented ascension. There were multiple torn levels, which each correlated with different classes. The Aztecs believed that ascension was the process of preparing oneself to please the gods. At the top was the main temple where sacrifices took place, since that was considered to be closest to the gods.{{fact|date=November 2024}}

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=== Separation of classes ===

Aztec culture had class stratification. The highest social rank was that of the priesthood, which permitted access to the temples and more exclusive quarters. Members of the priesthood lived near the temples in the central areas of the city, while people of lower classes lived increasingly further away according to their status. The sizes of domestic structures reflected differences in wealth, power, and status.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Michael E.|last2=Heath-Smith|first2=Cynthia|last3=Montiel|first3=Lisa|date=1999|title=Excavations of Aztec Urban Houses at Yautepec, Mexico|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/972199|journal=Latin American Antiquity|volume=10|issue=2|pages=133–150|doi=10.2307/972199|jstor=972199|s2cid=163928344 |issn=1045-6635|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Those who were considered in the lower social ranks had homes made up of adobe brick, and varied in size.<ref>Smith, Michael E., and Frances F. Berdan. "Archaeology and the Aztec Empire." ''World Archaeology'' 23, no. 3 (1992): 353-67/ <nowiki>http://ww.jstor.org/stable/124768</nowiki></ref> Those who considered to be higher class had homes made of cut stone, they had more rooms and were larger homes compared to those of a lower class, they also found things of status like jewelry in these homes<ref>Hodge, Mary G. “Archaeological Views of Aztec Culture.” ''Journal of Archaeological Research'' 6, no. 3 (1998): 195–238. <nowiki>http://www.jstor.org/stable/41053158</nowiki>.</ref>

== Aztec architecture today ==