1842.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



185 



THE ANTIQUITIES OF NEW SPAIN. 



Much has been said and written, from the age of Herodotus to the 

 present time, on the magnificent edifices of the ancient Egyptians ; 

 there is an undying interest felt about that people and their works, an 

 interest we all feel, and one that will endure for ages; but in gifing so 

 much of our attention to this subject, interesting as it undoubtedly is, 

 may we not neglect others which, if not equally, may be well worthy 

 our attention and research. Such a subject, we think, may be found 

 for us in the architectural remains of the ancient inhabitants of the 

 Spanish Mexican settlements; but in pursuing it, it is not our present 

 purpose to enter into the question, what race of men were the real 

 executors of these remains : such a question would lead us far beyond 

 the limits of our article, and as such great names differ in opinion on 

 the subject, it will appear like presumption in us to decide the point. 

 Of the early inhabitants of New Spain the Toltecans are the most 

 ancient nation of whom we know anything ; they came from the north- 

 ward, being expelled from their own country (supposed to be Tollan)- 

 about the year 472. In rather more than 100 years after this they 

 reached Mexico, where they settled ; but some time after almost the 

 whole nation was destroyed by famine and pestilence, occasioned by 

 extreme drought, and the remnant of the Toltecans was incorporated 

 with the Chichemicas, a succeeding nation under Zoloth, one of their 

 princes. There is considerable uncertainty as to the origin of the 

 present Mexican race ; according to Bolunni they left their own 

 country (Aztlan, supposed to be an Asiatic province) about the year 

 1160, but did not reach Mexico until nearly GO years after; there they 

 were first subject to, and afterwards conquerors of, the ancient Tolte- 

 can nation. For the sake of brevity, then, let us adopt the name of 

 Toltecan for the architectural works we speak of, although the present 

 natives attribute the erection of the buildings to "a race of giants," 

 (a name given by many ancient nations to the Pelasgi), and proceed 

 at once, as far as lies in our power, to the description of the works 

 themselves, as it is plain that to whatever nation they owed their 

 origin, they (the nation) must have had considerable general know- 

 ledge, especially of the mechanical, geometrical, and astronomical 

 sciences. 



The general form of the Toltecan religious edifices, and indeed the 

 guiding principle in all their works, seems to have been the pyramidal, 

 but unlike the pyramids of Egypt, they were not merely sepulchral 

 monuments, but temples in themselves. Instead of their being gra- 

 duated in regular courses, they formed stages or towers, each tower 

 being a truncated pyramid, rising one above the other to the height of 

 several stages, the upper surface of each tower (being flat) forming a 

 base for and terrace surrounding the tower immediately above it. 

 These buildings were square in plan, and the sides faced the cardinal 

 points. The sanctuary was situated on the topmost tower, and it is 

 a very singular coincidence that this kind of temple, the one at Cho- 

 lula especially, answers almost exactly to the description given by 

 Herodotus (Clio) of the temple of Jupiter Belus. He says " It is a 

 square building. In the midst a tower rises, upon which, resting as 

 a base, seven other towers are built in regular succession. The ascent 

 is on the outside, which, winding from the ground, is continued to the 

 highest tower. In the last tower is the holy place (uaos). As it is 

 generally supposed, from various circumstances, that the Toltecan 

 temples were dedicated to some solar divinity, the coincidence is the 

 more remarkable, as the sun was worshipped under the name of Baal 

 or Belus by the various nations of antiquity. The ascent to the place 

 of sacrifice or sanctum sanctorum was by means of a broad and well 

 finished flight of steps, usually situated on the western face of the 

 temple. Sometimes this staircase, instead of ascending in a direct 

 line, as in the flower temple of Xjjchicalco and others, traversed each 

 tower in a diagonal or zig-zag course from the lower to the upper 

 angle, as in the temple of Cholula before mentioned, and occasionally 

 there were four flights, one on each face of the building ; the temple 

 of Tehuantepee may be quoted as an example of this last, but in it 

 the principal staircase faced the west. It may be as well to mention 



that at Cholula, Dupaix discovered a very fine stone head, having on 

 a kind of crown ; from various circumstances he considered it to be 

 either the capital of a column or part of a caryatic figure. The sides 

 of their pyramids were sometimes ornamented with stone heads, but 

 they were of quite a different description, more resembling the human 

 skull. This was perhaps in allusion to their religious services, as it 

 is well known they sacrificed human victims upon their altars. At 

 Xochicalco (House of Fttiwers), the great temple has its sides adorned 

 with immense flowers cut after erection ; Nebel has restored this 

 building in his work. To give some idea of the magnificent scale 

 upon which the Toltecans executed their architectural works, it will 

 be only necessary for us to give the dimensions of the great pyramid 

 of Cholula. As nearly as can be ascertained (for the angles of it are 

 much worn) its base is upwards of 1400 feet square, or rather more 

 than twice the size of the pyramid of Gizeh, although in height (from 

 the width of its terraces) it does not exceed 180 feet. 



There has been much discussion among the moderns as to what 

 style was adopted by the architects of Solomon's temple ; some have 

 supposed it to have been the Grecian Doric, others (ourselves among 

 the number) have considered it the Egyptian, but Lord Kingsborough 

 has brought a more novel theory into the field. He considers the 

 Toltecan remains were executed by a portion of the Jewish nation 

 settled in Mexico, and the Toltecan temple of Palenque to be mo- 

 delled by them after that of Solomon. The general plan of this build- 

 ing is square ; it is raised on a low truncated pyramid as a basement, 

 and the ascent to the level of the floor is by a broad staircase situated 

 on the eastern side of the temple. A kind of double gallery runs 

 round and partly across the building, and divides it into three areas 

 or open courts. The galleries, as well as the other chambers, have 

 roofs rising high like the Gothic; the ceilings of the interior are 

 similar, with the exception of their section being a truncated triangle. 

 Out of one of the courts rises a square tower of very good proportion, 

 diminishing gradually, of several stories in height, and having on the 

 inside a staircase running up to the top. This tower was probably- 

 used by the Toltecans for an observatory, as we know they studied 

 astronomy, not only from their manner of placing their temples, &c., 

 but from there being some of their zodiacal carvings still extant. 



At Mitlan are ruins of four buildings called " the Palaces," (Dupaix 

 thinks they are sepulchral monuments and not the abode of their 

 kings) the design of which seems to indicate the existence of a purer 

 and more refined taste in their architect than is exhibited in most of 

 the other Toltecan works. It is difficult to convey an idea of the plan 

 of all these erections by description only, but we will take the prin« 

 cipal one as the best suited to our purpose. Four buildings surround 

 a square or court, three of them are rectangular parallelograms in plan, 

 each containing one saloon ; the fourth is similar to the other three, 

 but has, in addition to the saloon, some chambers behind it, forming 

 altogether a plan much resembling the Egyptian Tau. The greater 

 part of the exterior is covered with elaborate and exceedingly beau- 

 tiful designs in Mosaic, some of them vary much in the style of the 

 Greek meander or fret ornament ; the same mosaics are used on the 

 architrave of the interior. In the saloon of the principal building are 

 six granite columns without base or capital, supporting the ceiling 

 beams ; these are almost the only columnar examples we find, as the 

 Toltecans generally made use of piers or substantial antae in lieu of 

 them. The walls were constructed of well tempered mud, lime and 

 sand, the large stone facings being pressed into them to a certain 

 depth while in a soft state, and the interior of the work was finished 

 with a fine hard stucco bearing an excellent polish, and painted with 

 ochre and vermilion. It is a circumstance worthy of notice that al- 

 though chisels and other instruments of copper have been found among 

 the Mexican ruins, no iron ones have ever been discovered. How 

 then did the masons square their stones for building ? (it is evident 

 copper tools would not have been sufficiently hard for the purpose). 

 Dupaix thinks they squared them by means of friction, and his opinion 

 may receive some confirmation from the fact of their surface being 

 exceedingly smooth. Under the saloon of the palace is a cruciform 

 sepulchral chamber, entered by a flight of steps from the court above. 



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