Also known as Tlachihualtepetl (made-by-hand mountain), the Great Pyramid of Cholula, Mexico, is the world’s largest pyramid.
We all know the Great Pyramid of Giza to be the largest in the world, and that is only because the Great Pyramid of Cholula is so well hidden people mistake it for a green hill. With a base that’s four times the size of that of Pharaoh Khufu’s Great Pyramid of Giza, it has lied hidden under a church for centuries.
A church sitting on top of the Great Pyramid of Cholula.
It gets its Nahuatl name Tlachihualtepetl (which means made-by-hand mountain) because that is exactly what it looks like today. From a distance, the entire scene seems like a colorful church sitting on top of a green hill, but little was it known that the entire hill is the pyramid itself.
Believed to be dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl, it stands 55 meters high and has a base measuring 400 by 400 meters wide.
Who built the great pyramid remains unknown, as well as if they intended to keep it a secret by using a type of clay that facilitates plant growth.
Model of the Cholula Pyramid site at the site museum in Puebla, Mexico – Wikimedia/Alejandro Linares Garcia
It was so well hidden, that when Cortés invaded Cholula in 1519 he completely missed it, leaving it undiscovered until 1910. However, there are many myths and stories about who built the pyramid, why and how.
As the legend goes, the Great Pyramid of Cholula was built from adobe bricks by a giant name Xelhua, who had escaped to Cholula from a flood in the Valley of Mexico.
Estimated to be some 2,500 years old, most of the pyramid remains hidden underneath greenery. However it has served the area recently as a popular tourist and archaeological attraction.
Read more:
Archaeologists Seek Out Hidden Chamber Inside Great Pyramid of Giza
