Aztec · c. 1502–1521
Sun Stone (Piedra del Sol)
Aztec
Sun Stone (Piedra del Sol)
c. 1502–1521
The 'Piedra del Sol' ('Stone of the Sun'), carved around 1479 for the Aztec imperial capital of Tenochtitlán, is a monumental basalt disc 3.6 m across, 1 m thick, and weighing roughly 24 tonnes. It encodes Mexica cosmology and calendrical cycles: the sun god Tonatiuh at the centre, the four previous world ages (4 Jaguar, 4 Wind, 4 Rain, 4 Water), twenty day-signs, and bands of astronomical glyphs spiralling outward. Excavated in 1790 beneath the square of Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral, it now stands at the heart of the Mesoamerican galleries of the Museo Nacional de Antropología — and has become one of the defining images of Mexican national identity.
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Image source: Wikimedia Commons