BBC World Histories Magazine - 03.2020

The church had

been built on the

site of the temple

pyramid, where

prisoners had

occasionally been

sacrificed to gain

the favour of the

old gods

Pre-conquest Aztec history

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Spanish under siege

Conquistadors are besieged

by Aztec warriors in a scene

from the history compiled by

Friar Diego Durán in c1581.

Unlike many other writers, he

drew on indigenous sources Temple atop a temple

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los

Remedios in Cholula, south-east of

Mexico City. Like other Spanish

colonial churches in the New World, it

was built on the site of a pre-

Columbian temple – in this case, on

top of a colossal pyramid