Zona Arqueológica de Tizatlán

Tizatlán, "place of chalk" in Nahuatl, was one of the four lordships that made up the pre-Hispanic republic of Tlaxcala, the people who held out against the Aztec empire. The site lies on a hilltop in the village of San Esteban Tizatlán, about 8 kilometers from the city of Tlaxcala, and was the seat of Xicohténcatl the Elder, the aged ruler who received Hernán Cortés here in September 1519. The alliance agreed between the Spanish and the Tlaxcalans at that time led to the fall of Tenochtitlan two years later.

The settlement flourished in the 14th century and was rediscovered by archaeologists in 1927. Its treasure is a pair of altars with polychrome paintings in the codex style of the Postclassic period, among the most important murals in Tlaxcala. They show gods such as Tezcatlipoca, painted black with a warrior's headdress and an atlatl, and Mictlantecuhtli, lord of the dead.

Right on top of the old palace platform stands the open chapel of Tizatlán, built in the 16th century and one of the earliest in Mexico. Tradition holds that the lords of Tlaxcala were baptized here, and seeing the chapel and the painted altars side by side sums up the meeting of two worlds.