Why go
The crater is more than the outline of an old volcano. Offerings recovered from its lakes connect this elevated setting with religious practices, while finds on nearby peaks and crater walls show that people engaged with the mountain at several different heights.
The full story
Nevado de Toluca, also known as Xinantécatl, rises southwest of Toluca. Two shallow lakes lie inside its large crater. The elevation makes the summit area markedly colder than the surrounding country, an essential distinction when imagining the landscape from the city below. The lakes also hold traces of pre-Hispanic ritual, including offerings of copal, an aromatic resin. Archaeological finds extend onto the crater walls and peaks, where ceramics and obsidian blades have been recorded. At Cerro Prieto, a rock shelter combines evidence of pre-Hispanic visits with a later shrine to the Archangel Michael. The mountain’s cultural history therefore spans more than one religious tradition. Protection began in 1936 with the aim of conserving the volcano and its surroundings. Woodland loss and pressure on the crater illustrate how conservation involves both the high summit landscape and the forest below, whose condition matters to the area’s water systems.