This expansive, square complex is believed to have been the residence of the city’s supreme ruler. Four wide walls topped by 15 pyramids enclose a huge open space, with a major pyramid, the Templo de Quetzalcóatl , built around AD 250, to the east. Rooms here may have been the city’s administrative center. Skeletal remains of 137 human victims have been found under and around this temple. DNA tests reveal they were brought from diverse parts of Mesoamérica to be sacrificed.
The four surviving steps of the Templo de Quetzacóatl's facade (there were originally seven) are adorned with striking carvings. In the tablero panels, the feathered serpent deity alternates with a two-fanged creature identified as the fire serpent, bearer of the sun on its daily journey across the sky. Imagine their eye sockets laid with glistening obsidian glass and the pyramid painted blue, as it once was. On the talud (the pyramid’s slope) panels are side views of the plumed serpent. Some experts think the carvings depict war, while others interpret them as showing the creation of time.
