The world's largest pyramid in Mexico

The Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico is the largest monument on the planet, with a base four times larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and nearly twice the volume.

The foundation of the Great Pyramid of Cholula at the foot of the church on the mountaintop. Photo: Flickr.

According to BBC, the Great Pyramid of Cholula is located on a large mountain near Puebla, the fourth largest city in Mexico today. 450 m wide and 66 m high, the pyramid is equivalent in size to 9 Olympic swimming pools. Locals call this giant structure Tlachihualtepetl, meaning "artificial mountain". Because there is a church built on top, this is also the oldest crushed structure in North America.

On October 12, 1519, Hernan Cortez led a Spanish expeditionary force into the city of Cholula, looting its treasures and killing 3,000 civilians in just a few hours. They built a small church atop a large mountain as a symbol of their invasion and named it Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remediosa, unaware of the existence of the pyramid below.

According to historical records, when Cortez led his army to Cholula, the Great Pyramid was already 1,000 years old and completely covered with vegetation. But according to some legends, the Great Pyramid was a sacred place, so the Cholula people covered it with soil so that the Spanish colonists could not discover it.

The structure is not a single pyramid but at least six pyramids built on top of each other. According to experts, each pyramid was built at a different stage.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula lay hidden under the earth until it was discovered.Workers building a mental hospital at the foot of the mountaindiscovered in 1910. KhWhile breaking up sidewalks to repair the city's sewer system in 2013, another group of workers found at least 63 skeletons, including several deformed skulls of children who had been decapitated for sacrifice.

Experts believe the pyramid was built around 300 BC, but the builders have not been found. "It is possible that the structure was built by many peoples," said David Carballo, an archaeologist at the University of Massachusetts, USA.

According to VNE