epa01536557 Players take their positions at the start of the millenial Aztec Ball Game at Zocalo square in Mexico City, Mexico, 30 October 2008, as part of the celebrations of the Day of the Dead. The playground is an exact real size replica of the one the Aztecs had in the middle of their city Tenochtitlan. EPA/MARIO GUZMAN 
By Carlos Carillo
The mostly white mock temple will be on show in Mexico City's bustling main square, the Zocalo, close to the ruins of the real Templo Mayor, where the Aztecs venerated two main deities with elaborate pageantry and sacrificial offerings.
The temple was destroyed by Spanish forces after their 1521 conquest and subsequent razing of Tenochtitlan, which became Mexico City. A colonial-era Roman Catholic cathedral was built next to where the temple once stood, using many stones from the toppled shrine.
At 16 meters (52 feet) high, it will be the biggest ever replica of the Templo Mayor, according to Mexico's culture ministry. Archaeologists say the original temple was as high as a 15-story building.
"For the (Aztecs) it was the center of the universe. It was the point at which one could enter the underworld and the different celestial levels," said Argel Gomez, the ministry's general festival director.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday will attend a ceremony at the Zocalo commemorating five centuries since the fall of Tenochtitlan to Hernan Cortes, the leader of the Spanish invaders. Lopez Obrador had previously sought an apology from Spain and the Vatican for human rights abuses https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-president-vatican/mexico-asks-pope-for-loan-of-ancient-books-held-in-vatican-library-idUSKBN26V0Y9 committed during the conquest of what is modern-day Mexico.
(Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)