The Palace of Quetzalpapalotl
The Palace of Quetzalpapalotl (Quetzal-Butterfly) occupies the southwestern edge of the Moon Plaza. It was excavated and restored in the 1960s as an example of Teotihuacán most elite residences/public buildings. As always happens at Teotihuacán, the excavated building turned out to be much more complex that was assumed or hoped at the beginning. The ancient Teotihuacanos NEVER made it easy for archaeologists. That is the reason I vowed early in my career to never excavate there. I have the utmost admiration for those who do but I am happy to simply lend them a sympathetic ear, not dig in their sandbox.
The term Palacio de Quetzalpapalotl is a completely misleading name. First of all, it was not a palace, in the sense of a place where a ruler and his court lived. A few priests may have hung out there for periods of time but probably had their primary residences somewhere else. Then there is the name Quetzalpapalotl. It was originally applied because the excavator thought he was uncovering depictions of a strange creature with quetzal bird and butterfly characteristics. More recently he and others realized that the creature was none other than the ubiquitous Teotihuacan armed bird I think of as Owl with Attitude. Finally, the building turned out to have a very long history of construction, destruction, reconstruction, and so forth. Thus today the visitor finds the remains of not one but three associated structures: the Palacio de Quetzalpapalotl, the buried earlier structure known as the Subestructura de los Caracoles Enplumados (Substructure of the Feathered Conch Shells), and the adjacent (and contemporary) Patio of the Jaguars.
Entrance to the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl
I took this photograph on a slow tourist day, thus the rather bored looking vendors taking a break. The wooden lintels atop the columns are not original but charred beams were found under roof fragments in positions that allowed this reconstruction.
Written by Richard A. Diehl
