Largest monument ever constructed
- Who
- Great Pyramid of Cholula, aka Tlachihualtepetl
- Where
- Mexico (Cholula)
- When
- N/A
-
The largest pyramid, and the largest monument in Mesoamerica, is the Great Pyramid of Cholula – aka Tlachihualtepetl (“man-made mountain”) – located in Puebla, Mexico, around 100 km (63 miles) south-east of Mexico City. Dating back more than 2,000 years and dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl, it is 66 metres (216 feet) tall, and its base covers an area of nearly 16 hectares (39.5 acres). Its total volume has been estimated at 3.3 million cubic metres (166,538,400 cubic feet) compared with a volume of 2.4 million cubic metres (84,755,200 cubic feet) for the Pyramid of Khufu (aka Cheops) in Giza, Egypt.
Although the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt is not as large by area or volume, it does take the record for being the tallest pyramid at 137.5 m (451 ft 1 in) high today, more than double the height of Cholula's Great Pyramid. When completed around 4,500 years ago, Giza's largest pyramid was even taller – 146.7 m (481 ft 3 in) – but erosion and vandalism have reduced this over the millennia.