Ruins from last palace of Aztecs unearthed
Jun. 10, 2008 12:00 AM
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - Mexican archaeologists said Monday that they have unearthed the remains of an Aztec palace once inhabited by the emperor Montezuma in the heart of what is now downtown Mexico City.

During a routine renovation project on a colonial-era building, experts uncovered pieces of a wall as well as a basalt floor believed to have been part of a dark room where Montezuma meditated, archaeology team leader Elsa Hernandez said.

Montezuma's palace complex, known as Casas Nuevas, or New Houses to distinguish them from his predecessors' palaces, is thought to have encompassed five interconnected buildings containing the emperor's office, chambers for children and several wives, and even a zoo, according to Hernandez.
The Aztec constructions were razed by the Spanish, who built what is now Mexico City atop their ruins.

Experts had long thought Montezuma's palace stood roughly on the site where the ruins were found, next door to the National Palace, Hernandez said.

The find is "another piece of a puzzle, (and) we hope to find several pieces," Hernandez said. Excavations are planned beneath several parts of the colonial building, which now houses the Museum of Culture, she said.


Montezuma was the Aztec emperor when Spanish conqueror Hernan Cortes marched into the Mexico Valley in 1519. Montezuma died after the Spaniards took him captive, and the city - and the Aztec empire - finally fell in 1521.




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