To excavate, 13 buildings in this area had to be demolished. Nine of these were built in the 1930s, and four dated from the 19th century, and had preserved colonial elements. During excavations, more than 7,000 objects were found, mostly offerings including effigies, clay pots in the image of Tlaloc, skeletons of turtles, frogs, crocodiles, and fish; snail shells, coral, some gold, alabaster, Mixtec figurines, ceramic urns from Veracruz, masks from what is now Guerrero state, copper rattles, and decorated skulls and knives of obsidian and flint. These artifacts are now housed in the Templo Mayor Museum. This museum is the result of the work done since the early 1980s to rescue, preserve and research the Templo Mayor, its Sacred Precinct, and all objects associated with it. The museum exists to make all of the finds available to the public.