Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, Catholic church on Great Pyramid in Cholula, Mexico

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios crowns the Tlachihualtepetl, a 54-metre-high pyramid whose base measures 450 metres on each side. The church was built of carved stone with 24-carat gold-leaf laminilla, and its altar follows the neoclassical style. In 1595 the painter Alfonso de Villasana made the pictures on its walls.

Spanish colonists built this church between 1574 and 1575 on top of an older religious site. The building was formally consecrated in 1629, decades after construction began.

The image venerated here is a 27 cm carved and gilded figure of Our Lady of Remedies, brought from the Basque Country in 1519 by Captain Juan Rodríguez de Villafuerte. Legend says he hid it under an aloe plant after the Noche Triste retreat; indigenous people found it twenty years later. The church has been dedicated to the Virgin of Remedies since 1594, and worship here, like that of the pyramid's earlier deities, is tied to rain.

The climb starts from the pyramid's excavated tunnels and ascends the mound to the church at the top. The path is steep and uneven, so sturdy shoes help; the summit is exposed, with little shade at midday.

Tunnels run beneath the church through the ancient pyramid, connecting different levels of the structure. These passages allow visitors to see how the pyramid was built in layers over time.