Those of the Classic Maya period, which covers the Seventh to Tenth centuries include: The Nunnery and its annexes, the Akab Dzib, the Temple of the three lintels, the Red House, that of the Phallus and that of the Deer. In the Maya Toltec group constructed between the Tenth century and the Thirteenth century, we have the Castle, The Temple of the Warriors, the Ball Court, the Thousand Columns group, the Tzopantli, the Osary, the platforms of Venus and of the Tigers and of the Eagles.
Kinbé
Hotel, Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
The Astronomical Observatory (Caracol) belongs to a transition phase. The city has as its main axis two cenotes, Xtoloc, which provided the city with water, and the Sacred Cenote, where offerings of maidens and children were made to the gods. It has a diameter of 60 meters with a depth of to the water of 12 meters. In 1900, the North American, Edward Thompson, who lived in the Hacienda Chichén extracted a multitude of objects from this
cenote.
Other explorers who studied Chichén were: Francisco Montejo, "The Advanced", the conqueror of Yucatan in 1527; Stephens and Caterwood, in 1841-42; Le Plongeon in 1875. Maudslay, Maler and others also studied and wrote about this unique Maya city.
Among the buildings of outstanding beauty and impressive workmanship are: The Castle, a pyramid 60 meters on each side and 24 meters in height and ending in a flattened summit. On top of it there is a temple. The pyramid has nine terraces and four stairways, one toward each cardinal point. One leading to the temple consisting of a portico, a perimeter gallery and a sanctuary at the top.
This pyramid is believed to be superimposed over one made at a prior time. It has a passageway on one side of the north stairway. You can climb some steps to a place where there are the sculptures of a Chac-mool and a jaguar painted red and encrusted with jade and turquoise. The High Priest is believed to have sat on its back while passing down judgment, during the era when the priests occupied the office of civil and religious authority (Classic Period).
The Ball Court is an enormous construction 168 meters long and 70 wide. It is made up of two vertical walls, one facing the other with a distance of 36 meters between them. In the center part there is a circular ring decorated with intertwined snakes and cosmic glyphs.
At the extremes of the patio are two tribunals which were supposedly for the principal lords. This construction has an echo effect and impressive acoustics. If a person stands under one of the rings and claps his hands or shouts, the sound is repeated seven times.
The people in the tribunals can have a conversation in a whisper with a person at the opposite end of the patio. This is an experience not to be missed. In recent times, this enclosure has been used for concerts, symphonies and choral groups from different countries, including Italian opera singer, Luciano Pavaroti. The walls rest on platforms where there are mosaics and glyphs in bas-relief representing warriors and principal lords in different poses and scenes.
On top of the eastern wall there is a temple with some serpentine columns holding the jamb. It is supposed that the Main Chief watched the ball game, a ritual for the Maya, from the interior of this structure. This temple can be reached by an exterior stairway on the South side.
The Temple of the Warriors is a pyramid, also ending in a flattened summit, with a square base 40 meters on each side. It is lower than the Castle because it only has four superimposed terraces which have scenes decorated with personages, eagles and tigers.
The upper part has walls of what was a ritual building, rectangular in shape 21 meters on each side The roof is sustained by a series of pillars decorated with figures representing the Monsters of the Earth, a priest, and the Bacab who to the Maya was the one who held up the world. The pillars are located in each of the cardinal directions, each with its own color.
On the facade of the building there are two serpentine columns forming the entrance.
These are very similar to those in the main building of the Ball Court. Both support a wood lintel with decorations and glyphs. This building is reached by climbing a stairway on the west side of the entire structure. But, before getting to it, one passes in front of a low platform where there are a multitude of pillars forming part of the group called The Thousand Columns.
This structure is very similar to one found in Tula, the ancient capital of the Toltec, called the Temple of Tlahuizcalpantecutli "the Lord of the Dawn". This, together with other temples with Toltec elements, is the reason that Chichén is considered as the city of Yucatan with the most influence of the Toltec culture.
The group of the thousand columns is made up of a series of columns whose position is in the form of an irregular square. On the south side it is completed by a building called the market, but it is obvious that it formed a part of the columns according to the Maya idea of architecture. In its conformation, three sections can be distinguished: The northern section, consisting of 156 columns placed four deep with a length of 125 meters by 20; the east section made up of 134 columns, including some that are in a temple on the same side; The western section, forms the entrance of the rectangle and are placed in four rows in an extension of 125 by 11 meters; The south side, which is closed, is the rectangle of a large construction called the Market, which has a small ball court on it's east side.
Other constructions found around the Castle are: The platform of Venus, a small monument in the northern part of the castle. It has a square base and each of its sides has a stairway with serpentine decorations ending with the sculptured head of the mythical reptile, a presentation of a man-bird-serpent, the symbol of the Quetzalcoatl and of Kukulcan. It also has a chronological sign associated with the planet Venus, from which it gets its name. It has been called "The tomb of Chac-mool", the sculpture of this personage having been found there.
Between there and "The Ball Court" is The Platform of the Tigers and Eagles and the "Tzompantli". The Ball Court is a construction like that of Venus, except that on its wall jaguars and eagles with human hearts in their claws are carved. Since this is of the Toltec period, it probably was used for sacrificing the captives.
Very close to the platform, there is a foundation with walls decorated with human skulls called the "Tzompantli." Perhaps the skulls represented the people who had been sacrificed.
On the north side of the castle, is the Sacbe which was a wide foot path leading towards the "Sacred Cenote". This was a natural depression with borders cut vertically with a diameter of 60 meters and a depth to the water of 12 to 15 meters. The southern part has a small altar from which, according to legend, after a religious ceremony, victims who had been chosen to be sacrificed to the gods were thrown.
On the south side of the Castle is a series of buildings which include "The Osary", "The house of the deer", "The red house", "The Caracol", "The Nunnery", "The Church", "The Temple of the Panels "and" The
Akab-Dzib".
The Osary has its name because there is a row of seven tombs of Maya personages in the interior, with jade and ceramic offerings. This building is a flat topped pyramid, with 4 stairways on each side and a height of 10 meters. At the summit are the ruins of what was probably a temple. This building belongs to the Maya-Toltec style, and has stairways decorated with serpentine.
"The Red House" has its name because it has a sash of red color on its facade. It is considered to be a part of the Maya constructions of the Puuc style, those which do not have a marked Toltec influence. It rests on a platform with round corners. It is made up of a portico with hieroglyphic inscriptions, three rooms. What sets this structure apart are some uncommon "roof combs", ornaments that give the building additional height.
Still going south, we find the temple of the Sculpted Panels; several figures in relief of warriors, trees and animals are conserved on its walls. And further on is the building of "The Nunnery", a colossal fortification with a foundation of 70 by 35 meters and a staircase divided into two bodies, in the northern part it gives access to a structure with a rectangular base made up of two large parallel halls.
Its decoration of tapered medial moldings, is pure Maya style without Toltec influence. On the east side, an annex is found. This construction has two richly ornate facades; The one on the north side has three doors with stone lintels and masks of the god Chaac in its corners; the other facade on the east has extremely complicated ornaments. It has masks and a cornice on which there is a series of noses of the god Chaac. On this is a panel with medial molding, and in the middle, a richly dressed personage in high relief in the center of a circle of beams or feathers.
The other building which forms part of the "Nunnery", is the "Church". It is rectangular with a single entrance door found in its western part. The lower part of the front has worked stones without decoration, but on the level of the doors, is a thick cornice having a series of medial moldings surrounding the entire building, where there is a panel with masks, on which the four Bacabs in their representations of snail, armadillo, turtle and rabbit appear.
There is a molding over this that enclose a sort of sash between two inclining columns, next there is a border of medial moldings supporting the roof combs, that have a series of masks, identified with the god Chaac. This building is the most richly carved, considering its size.
Behind this building at about 90 meters, is the "Akab Dzib", so called for the lintels inside that "only the pure" can read. Since the building has thick walls, its interior is dark and it is not easy to read its content. Also the name can be translated as "the writing that is read at night". It is in pure Maya style and is formed by a solid center, a hall to the west and constructions to the north and to the south. In this last one are sculptures of warriors and some inscriptions, as well as some red hands, which are believed to be the hands of Zamna, the major god of the Maya.
Besides these two sections, in which we can distinguish or try to distinguish two construction styles: the Maya and the Toltec, Chichén Itzá has another series of constructions much farther to the south. These buildings which are a little difficult to get to, are given the name Old Chichén.
Among them we have: The Date Group which are two Atlantides supporting a lintel with some calendar type inscriptions corresponding, according to the GMT correlation, to the year 879 A.D. The principal group to the south east includes the Castle of Old Chichén and the Temple of the Jaguars. There the Temple of the Sculptured Lintels are found, as well as the cornice of the Birds Group, and that of the three Lintels, and that of the Turtles.
Yucatan
Archaeological Sites of Mexico
A novel of the Maya
