The International Academic Community for the Defense of Cholula

The vast archeological richness of Mexico has continued to amaze the world since the first explorations of scholars and lithographers - German, French, British and Americans in the nineteenth century reported the first pictorial records of different Pre-Hispanic sites in Mesoamerica.

The rescue and conservation efforts transcend borders.  The conservation of these archaeological monuments not only concerns Mexican authorities and researchers but the vast community of social scientists that have turned their analytical gaze to participate in the understanding of this great civilization in the Americas.

All of the archaeologists, historians and anthropologists, participants at the 55th International Congress of Americanists (San Salvador, July 2015) are appalled at the news about the irreversible impact on the archaeological site of Cholula, Puebla, whose Great Pyramid is the most voluminous religious building in all pre-Columbian America, which shared its moment of glory with Teotihuacan.

The reason for this is to construct a park for the purposes of tourism and trade promotion.

For these reasons, we ask that you consider the following points:

1)      Given the importance of the city of Cholula in central Mesoamerica since the dawn of our era, we make a strong recommendation that the legal provisions, on the archaeological zone of Cholula, are complied with. In such a way that the invasive recreational project make way for a program and permanent archaeological surveys, that due to construction have been interrupted for nearly six decades. We believe that the result could lead to the extension of the archaeological site area and show the public key findings, some already documented, underlying the affected lands. An archeological park would also bring tourism and have a greater commercial impact on a national and international level.

2)      We call on the representative of UNESCO in Mexico to apply the archaeological site Cholula to be constituted a cultural heritage site, which includes the huge ceremonial center, surrounding the Great Pyramid. This would lead to enroll the "sacred city" of Cholula on the list of World Heritage sites, which would give it proper historical legitimization.  It also would provide it with the place it deserves in the world archaeological record and the invulnerability this distinction confers, both necessary to meet the imminent urgency the sites preservation.