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Tula, Hidalgo

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For other uses, see Tula.
Columns in the form of Toltec warriors in Tula 
Columns in the form of Toltec warriors in Tula

Tula is a town of 28,432 (2005 census) in the southwestern part of the
state of Hidalgo in central Mexico, some 100 km to the north-northwest
of Mexico City. The modern town is known as Tula de Allende; also a
state municipality that covers part of the southeastern portion of the
Pre-Columbian city. The present-day municipality has a population of
93,296 and an areal extent of 305.8 km² (118.07 sq mi), which includes
numerous smaller outlying towns, the largest of which are El Llano,
San Marcos, and San Miguel Vindho.

Nearby are the remains of the ancient capital city of the Toltecs,
also known as "Tula" or as "Tollan". Usually identified as the Toltec
capital around 980 CE, the city was destroyed at some time between
1168 or 1179.
Toltec pictographs 
Toltec pictographs

The site is at and around the junction of two rivers, the Río Rosas
and the Río Tula. The two largest clusters of grand ceremonial
architecture are nicknamed "Tula Grande" (the most visited by
tourists) and "Tula Chico". Remains of other buildings extend for some
distance in all directions. In the residential areas streets were laid
out in a grid pattern.

The city was the largest in central Mexico in the 9th and 10th
centuries, covering an area of some 12 km² with a population of at
least some 30,000, possibly significantly more. While it might have
been the largest city in Mesoamerica at the time, some Maya sites in
the Yucatán may have rivaled its population during this period.
Pyramid at Tula archaeological site 
Pyramid at Tula archaeological site

Distinctive Toltec features here include terraced pyramids, colonnaded
buildings, and relief sculptures, including the characteristic
chacmools, reclining figures that may have been avatars of the rain
god, Tlaloc. There are two large courts for playing the Mesoamerican
ballgame. Some of the architecture is similar to that at Chichen Itza.

The site was extensively looted in Aztec times, with much of the
artwork and sculpture carted off.

The first scholarly description of the ruins was made by Antonio
García Cubas of the Mexican Society of Geography and History in 1873.
The first archaeological excavations were conducted in the 1880s by
French antiquarian Désiré Charnay. A twenty year archaeological
project under Jorge Acosta of Mexico's National Institute of
Anthropology and History (INAH) began in 1940. In the 1970s further
excavations and restorations of some structures were conducted by INAH
and the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Parts of the site are open for tourist visits, and Tula has a small
museum.

Coordinates: 20°03'N, 99°21'W