Mexico Guide
Mexico City
Santa Cecilia Acatitlán
Opening time: Tues– Sun 10am–5pm
Price: M$30
A road leads north from Tenayuca to Santa Cecilia Acatitlán, where there's another pyramid – much smaller and simpler but wholly restored and remarkably beautiful with its clean lines. When first encountered by the Spanish, this was a temple with a double staircase very similar to the others, but the outer structure was stripped away during excavation to reveal an earlier, well-preserved building inside. It's a very plain structure, rising in four steps to a single-roofed shrine approached by a ramped stairway. The studded decorations around the roof represent either skulls or stars. You approach the pyramid through a small museum in a colonial house, whose displays and grounds are both well worth a look.