Malinalco, Mexico

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MEX 55 south as far as 13km/8mi past Tenango, and then turn left to Malinalco (27km/17mi). From the town of Malinalco to the ruins is a steep climb taking 30 minutes.

The archaeological site of Malinalco lies on the Cerro de los Idolos ("Hill of Idols"), 220 m (720 ft) above the village of the same name, in a region of green forests and rugged rock formations. This Aztec cult site is unique in having one of the very few rock-cut pre-Columbian structures in Meso-America.

History Finds of pottery in Teotihuacán style indicate that the site was occupied in the early Classic period. Later it appears to have been under the nfluence of the Toltecs. In the 12th c. ad one of the Nahua tribes moving from Aztlán to the Anáhuac valley settled in Malinalco (Náhuatl: "place of the manilalli herb"). The town was taken from the Matlatzinca by the Aztecs (Mexica) under Axaycatl in 1476, and the building of the main cult structures probably began 25 years later.

When the Spaniards, led by Andrés de Tapia, captured Malinalco in 1521 the ceremonial centre was not yet complete. Augustinian missionaries established themselves here in 1537.