Klaas-Jan BAKKER - AMORC

The palace of Nezahualcoyotl in Texcoco with law courts.
Part of the palace compound was a religious
sector with over 40 temples and other structures,
priests’ residences and a calmécac for the education
of the royal children. There were over 300
rooms in this palace compound which was the
administrative centre of his kingdom, and where
much of the business of state was carried out.
Texcotzínco
Beginning around 1420 in the Valley of Mexico, four
different types of pleasure parks were established
or refined: imperial retreats, horticultural gardens,
urban zoological and memorial parks, and game
reserves. Spiritual and ritual functions were everpresent
at these pleasure palaces, which were
often located at or near existing shrines, especially
hot springs and mountaintops with commanding
views.
Nezahualcóyotl had a number of smaller
palaces scattered around his kingdom, the best
known of which was the retreat and pleasure
palace at Texcotzínco, a marvel of delight. Here,
on a hilltop above Texcóco, on the lower slopes of
Mt. Tlaloc, he built a water and flower wonderland
for ritual and relaxation that included a royal
residence with many separate chambers, a bath
complex and a botanical garden. The canals,
aqueducts, stairways, gardens and pools here
continue to delight visitors to this day.
The palace gardens were a vast botanical
collection that included plants from not only the
growing Aztec Empire but also the most remote
corners of Mesoamerica. The remnants of the
gardens, still extant to this day, have recently
been studied by a team of scientists, who were
able to demonstrate by means of modelling and
computer simulation that the layout of the site
had been carefully planned to be in alignment
with astronomical events, with an emphasis on
Venus, and not simply aligned with the cardinal
directions as previously assumed.
The water used to irrigate the gardens was
obtained from the springs beyond the mountains
to the east of Texcóco. The water was channeled
through canals carved into the rock. In certain
areas, rock staircases were used as waterfalls.
After clearing the mountains, the canals
continued downhill to a point a short distance
from Texcotzínco. There the path to the city was
blocked by a deep canyon that ran from north to
south. Nezahualcóyotl ordered that the gap be
filled with tons of rocks and stones, thus creating
the first known aqueduct in the New World. The
whole hill of Texcotzínco was also served by this
canal system and converted by his designers into
a sacred place for the rain god Tláloc, complete
with waterfalls, exotic animals and birds. On the
summit of the mountain he constructed a shrine
to the god, laid out in hanging gardens reached
by an airy flight of 520 marble steps, a significant
number, since according to Aztec mythology the
gods have the opportunity to destroy humanity
once every 52 years.
16 th century drawing of the main temple of Texcoco
(from the Codex Ixtlilxochitl, fol. 112V Bibliothèque
Nacionale, Paris).
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The Rosicrucian Beacon -- December 2007