The largest pyramid in the world at the foot of the Mexican church

The Cholula pyramid in Mexico is the largest monument to the planet with four times the foundation of the Great Giza pyramid in Egypt and nearly twice the volume.

According to the BBC, the Great Pyramid of Cholula is located on a large mountain near Puebla, the fourth largest city in Mexico today. 450m wide and 66m high, the pyramid is about the size of 9 Olympic swimming pools. Locals call this giant project Tlachihualtepetl , meaning "artificial mountain". Because of a church built above it, this is also the oldest built building in North America.

On October 12, 1519, Hernan Cortez led the Spanish expeditionary army into the city of Cholula, plundering treasures and killing 3,000 civilians in just a few hours. They built a small church on the top of a large mountain as a symbol of the invasion and named Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remediosa without knowing the existence of the pyramid below.

The foundation of the Great Cholula pyramid at the foot of the church on top of the mountain.(Photo: Flickr).

According to historical records, Cortez led troops to Cholula, a 1,000-year-old pyramid, completely covered by plants. But according to some anecdotes, the great pyramid is a sacred place, so the people of Cholula used it to cover it so that the Spanish colonists could not detect it.

The building is not a single pyramid but is built up by at least six pyramids. According to experts, each pyramid was born at a different stage.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula hid under the soil until workers built a mental hospital at the foot of the mountain discovered in 1910. When breaking the sidewalk to repair the city's sewer system in 2013, a group Other workers found at least 63 skeletons, including some deformed skulls of children beheaded for sacrifice.

Experts believe that the pyramid was built around 300 BC, but no construction workers were found . "It may be built by many nations," said David Carballo, an archaeologist at the University of Massachusetts, USA.