Site Museum CCEMX-INAH

Los trabajos de excavación y salvamento arqueológico se realizaron de 2006 a 2008. The Calmécac, a pre-Hispanic building extending under Donceles Street in downtown Mexico City, formed one of the 78 structures that, according to Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, made up the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan. Among the pre-Hispanic objects are domestic and ceremonial ceramics, polychrome bowls, Aztec II tripods (1325–1400 AD) and Aztec III and IV (1400–1521 AD), plates, a bowl, wooden objects —a stake, a coa and a miniature vessel that represents Tláloc—, five flint knives —two brown and three white—, two obsidian projectile points, a human jaw esgrafiado with the representation of a xiuhcóatl (fire serpent) and a mixcóatl (serpent of the cloud), a shell object, a stone visage of Ehécatl, god of wind, and five stone relief slabs related to the dismemberment of humans. Also on display are two of the seven merlons found at 5.36 meters depth, made of clay and shaped like a cut snail. Each piece measures 2.38 meters long by 1 meter wide; they were found complete and in good condition despite being fragmented. The other five merlons are exhibited at the Museo del Templo Mayor. The vestiges of the calmécac school measure approximately 19 meters long by 8 meters wide, with a south-to-north access. Excavations identified three construction stages, though the remains shown in this site museum relate to stages VI (1486–1502) and VII (1502–1519) of the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan. The merlons correspond to stage VI, as does a wall found at a depth of 3.87 meters, plastered floors, a bench 2 meters wide by 0.5 meters high and 11 meters long, as well as four pilasters, one of which had at its top a decoration with a bow-shaped finish. By contrast, the remains of the staircase, front bench and basalt-lava tile floors are chronologically contemporary with stage VII of the Templo Mayor. Regarding colonial-era artifacts, the collection includes plates, ollas, jars, candlesticks, a patera and a cazuela, corresponding to domestic ceramics. Glazed and maiolica ceramics predominate, introduced into Mexico from the mid-16th to late 18th centuries. Other materials include fragments of figurines, beads and imported ceramics, such as Chinese porcelain, Japanese porcelain and European white tin-glazed earthenware. Also on display are four column bases, three wrought-iron windows and an eighteenth-century wooden snail-shaped staircase. As for the modern period, there are jars, horseshoes, inkwells, a revolver, fragments of earthenware such as plates and cups, mosaics and floor tiles from the 20th century, along with some metal and glass materials. The site visit through the Calmécac: Site Museum of the Centro Cultural de España en México includes a multimedia projection reproducing the excavation process, as well as a historical overview of the building and the restoration stage of the vestiges of the Mexica college.