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Kulkulkan pyramid

Originally posted by Xolotl Huascar on Mar 21, 2003 (post 121660)

EL Castillo, or Kulkulkan's Pyramid is without question the most impressive monument in Chichen-Itza. It stands in the middle of a vast esplanade encircled by several other important buildings, allowing the visitor to admire from a distance its perfect proportions and design. It is a masterpiece of Toltec-Maya architectural genius.

The pyramid, sustained by a square base measuring 60 yards (55.5 mt) by side, is formed by nine terraced bodies with sloping walls whose faces are ornamented with protruding rectangular panels. On the center of each side of the pyramid rises a monumental stair way flanked by two straight balustrades. The four stairways lead to the platform that is at the top of the structure, where the temple was raised. The main stairway is on the northern side of the building and is easily recognizable because at the foot of each balustrade, resting on the ground, is the formidable stone sculpture of a plumed serpent's head. The entrance to the sanctuary also faces north and consists of a portico divided into three doors by two columns shaped like rattlesnakes in the purest Toltec style: their heads forming the base, their bodies the shaft and their tails the capital of the columns. The temple's vaulted chamber is borne by two pillars sculptured with the figures of warriors richly dressed, carvings that are repeated on the door jambs and are also Toltec in taste. The portico gives access to a narrow gallery that surrounds the temple, with openings to the other three stairways. The facade is adorned with a mask of God Chac above the doorway and a plain frieze between two thick, straight moldings, while the roof is crowned by merlons in the form of cross-sectioned conches, a reference to Quetzalcoatl as the God of Wind.

El Castillo was devoted to the cult of Kukulkan; yet, Maya experts who have studied its structure believe it was also connected with the worshiping of the sun. This is why: each stairway has 91 steps; consequently, the four stairways total 364 steps, plus the upper platform that constitutes one more step, add up to 365 steps, or the number of days in a solar year. Each side of the pyramid has 52 panels, a number equal to the years in a Toltec cycle. The nine terraced bodies that form the 4 faces of the pyramid are divided by a flight of stairs resulting in 18 sections, corresponding to the 18 months months of the Maya Calendar.

Another construction very similar to the one just described lies intact underneath. It is a pyramidal structure as well, - with a temple on top of it -, also formed by nine terraced bodies. Its stairway, however, has only 61 steps and the sanctuary is of a simpler style than the one above it, with just an inside shrine and an antechamber. The outside walls are adorned with entwined serpents, prowling tigers, coats of arms and rosettes. This inner structure most probably was one of the earliest erected by the Toltecs in the Yucatan Peninsula and is an excellent example of the religious custom of superposing one monument above the previous one at the end of a cycle of 52 years. (One bundle year = 52 years) In the antechamber of the older temple archaeologists found the reclining figure of a Chac-mool (meaning "Red Claw", possibly a messenger of the gods) with shell incrustations in his eyes, teeth and fingernails. Inside the shrine was the sculpture of a fierce - looking jaguar with open fauces, painted red and with spots of inlaid jade discs on his coat, his eyes made of jade balls and his fangs of flint, that probably served as a throne for the high priests. A beautiful offering was found on this seat, consisting of Turquoise mosaic disk delicately wrought. The entrance that leads to the inner structure is located at the base of the northern side of the exterior pyramid

The Mayan Class Structure
Visegimal system
Haab
Skye - Eilean a' Cheò, The Misty Isle
Longcount

Kulkulkan pyramid

The Chachapoyas
Temple of Inscriptions