Question for March 2022

Yes! The Aztecs, Maya, Teotihuacanos, Mixtec, and other peoples of Mesoamerica had brightly colored and highly decorated cities. Although when we look at the buildings today, we just see the stone building blocks, when we look more closely we can often see small traces of stucco, paint, masks, and other adornments. They would have spread stucco over the stone buildings like cake frosting and then painted things such as murals. At the site of Teotihuacan in central Mexico, they had massive apartment buildings that had beautiful murals on the walls with images of jaguars, coyotes, poets and musicians, gods, and other scenes.

Mural painting from Teotihuacan of a poet with flowery speech

They would also decorate their buildings with designs related to important themes like death and sacrifice, such as this Aztec skull imagery. These images and colors conveyed messages to visitors to the cities, such as important religious beliefs, the power of the kings who ruled the cities, and the wealth and influence of the city.

An Aztec skull sculpture