Teotihuacán is one of the largest pre-Hispanic cities in Mesoamerica, I visited this archaeological site about ten years ago and I was amazed at the splendor of its architecture and the tremendous scale of its pyramids and avenues. The fact that the Teotihuacan’s built such a perfect city at such an early time and at a point so isolated from the rest of great civilizations it is a milestone of the ancient world.

The city occupied more than ten hectares and among its architecture, three major monuments stand out: The Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon and The Citadel.

The Citadel

The Citadel, named for the Spaniards who assumed it had a military function, was actually one of the city’s political, cultural, and economic centers. It is a rectangular square surrounded by small temples and containing the famous pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, a richly decorated stepped pyramid. The set is delicate and beautiful and it is this space that I have recreated here.

Historical approach

“Novelists have a great advantage over historians: What they don’t know can invent it” – Mario Vargas Llosa

Like any historical recreation, this work is based on data that is known and inevitably speculates on others that are still subject of controversy: It is known that the pyramids were crowned by temples, but it is not known how they were, it is also assumed that most of the walls would be beautifully decorated, so I have borrowed frescoes that have survived in other parts of the city. Regarding the feathered serpent pyramid, built in the slope-and-panel style, there is no consensus on whether it had six or seven steps, I have taken the option of six, which is the only about which there is archaeological evidence.

Acknowledgment

Regarding the documentation work prior to the realization of this work, I particularly appreciate the selfless help provided by Erika Zúñiga Alcántara Head of the Postgraduate in Archeology at the ENAH and by Luis Rogelio Rivero Chong in charge of the Teotihuacán Directorate, belonging to the INAH by taking the trouble to answer many of my questions.

Realization and technical data

From a technical point of view, I have done the modeling phase halfway between Autocad and 3dsMax (the latter in the modeling of the sculptures) almost all the repetitive elements use the Pluging RailClone. As for lighting, cameras and rendering engine, I used Vray.

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Enjoy!