Malinalco is the municipality inside of Ixtapan Region, is a town and municipality located 65 kilometers south of the city of Toluca in the south of the western portion of the State of Mexico. Malinalco is 115 km southwest of Mexico City.
Malinalco has always been associated with magic or sorcery due to the legend that it was the home the goddess Malinalxóchitl. The municipality is home to the famed village of Chalma, where according to legend, an image of a Black Christ miraculously appeared in a cave that was devoted to the god Oxtoteotl. It is the second-most visited shrine in Mexico, after the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The Aztecs conquered the area in the 1470s, and established here a sanctuary for their military elite, the Eagle and Jaguar warriors. The complex was built on the Cerro de los Idolos, over an older ceremonial site. The main attraction of this archeological site is the Cuauhcalli or House of Eagles, which is a building carved out of the side of the mountain.