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Malinalco is
beautifully located in a spectacular landscape. Green
forests and hills surround this small colonial town in the
highlands southeast of Mexico City. This town, despite its
spectacular and highly interesting archaeological zone,
receives astonishing few foreign visitors. Malinalco is
mostly mentioned in travel guide books only with a couple of
lines and very few visitors find their way to this
magnificent place. A number of well to do inhabitants of
Mexico City (including some high-ranking politicians and
celebrities) have weekend houses here, which is the reason
why the town despite its isolated location and small size
has a number of excellent restaurants offering a wide
variety. We recommend visitors to try out some of the local
[fish] dishes which are very tasteful and mostly delicately
prepared.
In pre-Hispanic times, Malinalco was an important
center for training and education of young recruits to the
imperial Aztec forces. Initiation rites for new recruits
were also held here. The Aztec
Temple of the Eagle and Jaguar Warrior was the most
important place for worship in pre-Hispanic Malinalco, and
is also today an impressive sight. It
is built into the top of a mountain and thrones ca one
kilometre above the town in the valley underneath. It is
actually one of only 3 places in the world that has temples
carved into the mountain itself. The view from the mountain
top where the archaeological zone is located is simply
spectacular. When going to Malinalco, a camera is
definitely a must. Every
Saturday, a colourful tianguis, (market) is held in
Malinalco. We therefore highly recommend to visit Malinalco on a
Saturday even if it means that also the ruin site will have
more visitors.
In the 16th century, the Spaniards ordered many churches and
convents to be erected in the town, which has many
beautifully preserved examples of early colonial
architecture, often constructed with stones from the
Pre-Hispanic site.
The churches are often decorated
with frescos and murals that were painted by converted
Indians in the early colonial period under supervision by
Spanish friars. In these artworks, indigenous and Catholic
artistic conventions, symbolism and imagery often mixed and
merged. The ecclesiastical art of colonial Malinalco has
been discussed by the American art historian Jeanette
Peterson whose writings focuses on the complex interchange
between the Pre-Columbian and European Renaissance worlds.
Enkidu recommends in particular her prize winning book: The
Paradise Garden Murals of Malinalco: Utopia and Empire in
Sixteenth-century Mexico, from 1993 as an introduction. |
