The recreation of Tenochtitlan the capital of the Aztec Empire
Thomas Kole a digital artist from the Netherlands recreated the Capital of the Aztec Empire.
Thanks to his ambitious project of today we can visualize this metropolis and be familiar with the appearance of the City of Mexico 500 years ago.
Thomas took him a year and a half to carry out this project, he says that what started out of curiosity to not find images of Tenochtitlan on the internet.
The Large Metropolis of Mexico that once was a settlement modest in the midst of a great lake, I had documented the good distribution and planning that had.
Tenochtitlan was the home of more than 200,000 people, including: farmers, artisans, merchants, soldiers, priests, aristocrats, etc
Portrait of Tenochtitlan
Based on historical sources, archaeological, as well as the people you talked to achieved a great result.
The recreation was carried out with software open source as: Blender, Gimp and Darktable.
Kole says that in Europe the teaching of the history of Mexico is almost zero, so that the more he knew of the Capital Mexica, it seemed even more interesting, now considered to be one of the largest cities in the world.
The embodied reality of Tenochtitlan, a city of hierarchy, planned in advance, designed in a grid and planning the location of markets, schools and places of worship.
This project called Portrait of Tenochtitlán, where he collaborated with Andrew Semo Garcia who took the current images of the City of Mexico.
Recreated Tenochtitlan, lakes, volcanoes (Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl), the causeway Tlacopán, Temple, residential building, the Palace of the Tlahtoani Moctezuma, Tlatelolco, recreated in different scenarios, such as special ceremonies, as well as what is the new fire.
Thomas imagined the aromas and sounds while carrying out this project, he says that the world was very different 500 years ago.
Re Building a city through the story it meant one of the best experiences of your life.
Built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Mexico City left behind the canals and the lake, giving way to the streets, today little remains of the original city.
Past – Present of Tenochtitlan
The project, a Portrait of Tenochtitlan has become viral among archaeologists, photographers, and artists, by what is now new projects are planned recreation.
Images credit A portrait of Tenochtitlan
EN 
ES