Cholula

Town in Puebla state, Mexico, 20 km/12 mi west of the town of Puebla. Situated at an altitude of 2,118 m/6,949 ft on the eastern slope of the volcano Popocatepétl, Cholula is a small but important commercial and trading centre for the surrounding agricultural region. The town has a significant tourist industry but no manufacturing industries. Cholula is built on the site of a pre-Columbian religious centre dating from around 400 BC.

History The town is reputed to have had a population of 100,000 and more than 100 temples before the Spanish conquest. Most of the population were killed by Spanish forces led by Cortés in 1519, and most of the temples were destroyed. The remains of the Great Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl, around which the temples were grouped, have been excavated and part of it is open to tourists. Cholula had and still has the largest ancient structure in the Americas, the Great Pyramid of Tepanampa, which is 60 m/197 ft high and covers 18 ha/44 acres.