Huitzilopochtli was the patron deity of the Mexica, and he was associated with warfare, fire, and the sun. Paired together on the Templo Mayor, the two deities symbolized the Mexica concept of atl-tlachinolli, or burnt water, which connoted warfare—the primary way in which the Mexica acquired their power and wealth.

The Templo Mayor was approximately ninety feet high and covered in stucco. Two grand staircases accessed twin temples, which were dedicated to the deities Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. Tlaloc was the deity of water and rain and was associated with agricultural fertility.

The Templo Mayor (English: Main Temple) was the main temple of the Mexica people in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica. The temple was called Huēyi Teōcalli [we:ˈi teoːˈkali] in the Nahuatl language.

The temple was surrounded by a serpent wall and the entire structure would have been brightly painted. You can still see many of the original colors today. In 1521 CE, the Spanish destroyed Templo Mayor to make way for a new cathedral. The ruins were buried and largely forgotten until their rediscovery in the 1970s.