Source: These images were taken by WTL at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe) in Tepeyac, México.
Comments: The Basilica and Shrine are located in the Villa de Guadalupe, a separate town and suburb of Mexico City. Originally, the town was a Mexica village on the northern mainland edge of Lake Texcoco. It was connected with Tlatelolco on the big island in the middle of the lake by a causeway. The most prominent feature is the cerrillo (little hill) of Tepeyac. From the village's Mexica founding about 700 years ago, it has been a religious center. Before the Spaniards arrived, a temple here was dedicated to the Tonantzin ("Our Mother" in Náhuatl), the Aztec goddess of the earth, birth, and death; Tonantzin also was the wife and counterpart to the Toptahtzin; together these two binary gods made up the Aztec god that created the universe, Ometéotl. This couple (or two-part god) were the parents of the enemy gods, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcóatl. In 1533, the Tonantzin temple was destroyed and replaced with a hermitage dedicated to la Virgen de Guadalupe (the Virgin of Guadalupe).