ACATITLAN

St. Cecilia Acatitlan, meaning between the canes, is located north of modern day Mexico City. This Chichimec city was occupied later by the Mexica-Aztecs and was transformed into one of the numerous religious enclaves that surrounded the Tetzcoco lake region. Sta. Cecilia Acatitlan has a double pyramid-temple that faces a cobbled stone plaza that may have been used as a public arena during ceremonies in the plaza, in front of the pyramid, there is a small church built in late 16 century with stones taken from the Pre-Columbian site.
The Pyramid
The pyramidal platform is composed of a double stairway that faces west and is separated by a balustrade (alfarda) that is twice as wide as the other two balustrades that form the extremes of the platform . On top of it there are two temples. The North Temple was dedicated to Tlaloc . A sculpture of Chac Mool (messenger of the gods who carry the human sacrifice offerings) used to accompany Tlaloc inside his temple, but because the deterioration of this North Temple, the Chac Mool is placed in the contiguous temple. The South Temple was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. The roof of this temple was made out of inclining tableros (panels) that were decorated with naillike stones . The doorway of the shrine has a wood lintel. Next to the figure of the Chac Mool, there can be seen a techcatl (sacrificial stone) and a brazier .
The dual pyramid-temple of Santa Cecilia Acatitlan, with some variants, follows the traditional Aztec pattern of twin pyramids dedicated to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli.