Ancient pyramids are often associated with Egypt. However, the largest pyramid ever built is in Mexico. The Great Pyramid of Cholula, known as Tlachihualtepetl, is a man-made mountain. (representational image)
When looking at the idyllic monuments of the ancient world, the mind immediately flies to the sunny deserts of Egypt. Our eyes see the extreme precision of geometry on the Giza Plateau, where huge triangles of stone stand out in the desert landscape.
For centuries, these monuments have been considered the highest expression of human achievement and greatness. However, our imagination has a huge blind spot.To see what may be the largest pyramid built by any civilization in ancient history, you don’t have to travel to Egypt and find your way to Cairo. In fact, the site of the Great Pyramid is located in the Mexican highlands. This is because the real king of ancient pyramids lies literally under tons of grass, trees, and even an old colonial church! Due to its massive size, many tourists tend to overlook this architectural marvel and consider it nothing more than just another hill!Switch criteria from height to footprintThe proud bearer of the Old World title is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, whose Nahuatl name is Tlachihualtepetl, which literally means “man-made mountain.”
Indeed, this structure is a huge building, and its size is unparalleled compared to other pyramids in other countries.As an official Guinness World Records statement confirms, human structures of these proportions are highly vulnerable to definitions related to the term “largest.” The first would undoubtedly be the Great Pyramid of Giza, which originally stood 146.6 meters high in sheer grandeur. However, if the latter option were taken into account, the Mexican giant would completely dominate in all respects, being almost twice the size of the African pyramid.
When we clean up the criteria and rank the world’s largest surviving pyramids by total structural size, the global leaderboard takes on a fascinating new look.1. The Great Pyramid of CholulaLocated in Puebla, Mexico, this sprawling monument covers a massive base area of 450 x 450 metres. Rather than being built all at once, it was built in successive stages over a period of nearly a thousand years by different Mesoamerican cultures.
When Spanish forces arrived in the area, the structure was so covered with natural vegetation that they built a church on top of the peak, completely unaware that they were nesting on the largest monument in the world.2. The Great Pyramid of GizaIn second place comes this architectural marvel from Egypt, which still stands out today as a standard for precision in engineering. Built in the Old Kingdom using an estimated 2.3 million stone pieces, this pyramid is arguably the most easily recognizable archaeological building.
The Great Pyramid of Cholula has a massive footprint, dwarfing the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. This Mexican wonder is often overlooked, being confused with a natural hill. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons
3. Khafre’s PyramidKhafre is located just a few hundred meters from the Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt, the second largest of the ancient Egyptian pyramids. Because it was built on a slightly higher bedrock and still retains a beautiful covering of its original smooth casing stones at the summit, it often fools tourists into thinking it is the tallest building on the plateau.4. The Red PyramidThe Red Pyramid is one of the largest pyramids in the world. The Red Pyramid was found in the royal cemetery at Dahshur in Egypt, and holds a unique place in world history.
It was built by King Sneferu, and is known by many historians as the first true smooth-sided pyramid ever built.5. The curved pyramidSimilar to the Red Pyramid, it is located in Dahshur and represents a unique pyramid with a strange shape that can be considered eccentric in the pyramid family. Once halfway through the construction process, the ancient builders noticed that the steep slope of the sides had caused the pyramid to become unstable.
Thus, the ancient builders had to suddenly change the angle of the pyramid blocks.The elusive nature of measuring ancient ruinsWhen we try to classify these gigantic structures numerically, we are faced with the enormous task of measuring them. According to a UNESCO report. Memphis and its cemetery – the pyramid fields from Giza to DahshurEstimating the exact size of any ancient structure is rarely a straightforward mathematical equation.Over many years, it has faced inherently severe erosion, collapse and crushing by local communities seeking free materials for construction purposes. In Mexico, the bulk of Cholula was intentionally left untouched, buried under many miles of tunnels and roots to keep the historic church atop its peak. So, while we have highly advanced mathematical formulas to calculate volumes, the resulting numbers are nothing more than guesses and approximations.Instead of seeing this lack of knowledge as a weakness, historians view this mystery as a reflection of the amazing abilities of our ancestors. Whether it was using massive stones from the Egyptian desert or countless clay bricks from the Mexican mountains, our distant ancestors managed to change the face of our planet, giving us the legacy of man-made mountains.
