Around 900 CE, the Toltecs founded a new earthly "Tollan" in northern Mesoamerica. The architecture created there represented the most advanced construction of its time—both in scale and in symbolic complexity. Notable features include sunken courtyards, sloped and panelled walls adorned with sculpture, skull-offering altars, and columned halls. Among these structures stands a unique thirteen-tiered pyramid—the only one of its kind in Mesoamerica. According to Toltec cosmology, the pyramid symbolized one of the three cosmic layers: the heavens, the earth, and the underworld.

Pyramids were often built over springs or caves, believed to be the passageway of the cosmic axis that connected all planes of existence. In Room 2, visitors will find illustrated panels explaining this concept, sculptures with calendrical glyphs, and an architectural element shaped like a serpent’s head. The room concludes with a scale model that reconstructs the ceremonial center—centered on the pyramid—which can also be viewed through the museum’s only window.