Architectural Styles
Aztec
Alt names / subperiods
Timeline
Distinguishing Features
Geographic Presence
1325-1521
- Temple platforms
- water management
- stepped structures
- cavolcanic stone & limestone
- adobe & brick
- cities with grid layout
- central plaza (zocalo)
- celestial-alignment
- carvings
- reliefs & murals
- colourful inlays incl torquoise, obsidian & shell
- transport infrastructure
- Mexico
Common Building Types
Landmark buildings
Accommodation Types
Accommodation Examples
- Step pyramids (teocalli)
- royal palaces
- canals & causeways
- floating gardens (chinampas)
- ball courts
- marketplaces
- road networks
- diverse housing,
- Tenochtitlán (Great Pyramid of the Sun)
- Pyramid of the moon
- Great Temple
- Temple of Quetzalcoatl)
- Great Pyramid of Cholula
- Palace of Moctezuma II
- Tlaxcala
- Temples of the Sun and Moon at Xochicalco
- The Aztec state supported long-distance travel for Pochteca (elite long-distance merchants), Imperial messenger, Tribute official, Military envoys
- Temazcal (steam baths)
- Pochteca Hostels (often associated with merchant guilds , near markets (tianquiztli) or administrative precincts)
- Community Lodges
- State Waystations at provincial administrative centres
- Elite residences
- Tribute Collection Points
- Palace compounds (tecpan)
- Merchant quarters near markets
- Pochteca hostels & other traveller accommodation described in early colonial sources such as Bernardino de Sahagún’s Florentine Codex or Codex Mendoza
Landmarks
