"Teotihuacan" named by the Aztecs five hundred years ago because of their strong respects for the ancient and mysterious ruins near their capital. Teotihuacan stands for "City of the Gods" and has a very unique religion. This became the most powerful state in Mesoamerica, for five hundred years. The piece of art that I have decided to write on is the mural of the feathered serpent and the flowering trees. The collection of this mural began following the death of Harold Wagner in 1976. Wagner was a rather eccentric San Francisco architect who bequeathed his collection of 70 mural fragments to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. This piece has many spiritual meanings and tells a lot about the time in which it was designed.

When the Aztecs first saw Teotihuacan, they were struck by awe at what they found; the monumental ruins of a civilization were long gone. Two huge pyramids: the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon towered over the valley. A broad avenue, fit for giants, linked them and extended toward the horizon called "The Street of the Dead".

The Aztecs struggled to conceive who could have built on such a colossal scale. They decided

One of the most beautiful rooms in Teotihuacan is believed to have been the room of the feathered serpents and flowering plants. Various murals from this room are found in museums all over America and are part of the Wagner collection. My piece of choice the mural of the feathered serpent and flowering trees in extremely well preserved in its condition and color. The majority of the mural is a reddish clay color while the serpent and trees are primarily blue, green and yellow. The roots of the trees are in different patterns as with the branches on the top. There are thirteen flowering trees, which all contain different glyphs or picture symbols within their base. The trunk of each tree contains a different design and is considered be extremely important in increasing our knowledge of the writing language of Teotihuacan. The feathered serpent is colorful and appears to have water flowing from its month down onto the trees. This piece is believed to be frequently associated with fertility.

Next was pimples turn. Pimples stepped forward, shut his eyes and leaped into the blaze. Ashamed, the proud god followed suit. And so, because he had been the first to sacrifice himself, Pimples became the sun and brought the dawn. His rays were so bright that they hurt the eyes. And when the proud god rose up too, he was equally magnificent.

It is known that the feathered serpent theme is exclusive to Mesoamerican times and goes back Teotihuacan's Temple of the Feathered Serpent. During later Aztec times, the feathered serpent was called Quetzalcoatl, which was associated with a creator god and with dead rules that lived after Teotihuacan had fell. In Teotihuacan, almost all feathered serpents are associated with water in some way like shells, streams of water and water drops.

The neat part of this mural is the trees

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Approximate Word count = 1247
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)