NW Yucatan Part 16: Mérida's Barrio de la Mejorada and Museum of Popular Arts

A colorful alebrije hisses at passersby in the Museo del Arte Popular. Alebrijes were invented by Mexico City artist Pedro Linares López in 1936. When he was 30 years old, he got very sick to the point of delirium, and in his wild hallucinations, he saw these creatures crying out "alebrije, alebrije!" When he returned to consciousness, he gave that name to the fanciful little beings he began to create from cardboard and paper. This one was displayed at the Museum of Popular Art. The museum is one of the main attractions of Barrio del la Mejorada, which is located a few blocks to the east of the Plaza Grande in Mérida. After our visit to the ruins at Dzibilchaltún, we continued to explore the neighborhoods of the Centro Historico. The history of the Mejorada barrio (neighborhood) goes back to the earliest colonial times. The area has undergone numerous transformations over the centuries, from a posh residential section for the colonial elite, to an industrial neighborhood, and back to a residential area with a strong foreign presence.

La Plaza Mejorada

This fine old mansion occupies most of the south side of the Plaza Mejorada. The Plaza is the heart of Barrio de la Mejorada. It is bordered on the south by this freshly refurbished mansion. On the southeast corner is a Franciscan church, and the Museo del Arte Popular sits on the northwest corner. Like the one above, many of the formerly crumbling but still beautiful old buildings are undergoing restoration. In 1562, barely 20 years after the Conquest of Yucatan, the first hospital in Mérida was constructed in Barrio de la Mejorada, and about 120 years later a Franciscan Convent was built adjacent to the church. Both the hospital and the convent were used for multiple purposes over the following centuries. Several other significant historical structures stand along nearby streets. The Arco de los Dragones, is an arch similar to the one already seen in Part 11 of this series. The arches were built by General Juan José de la Bárcenas in 1690 as a way of creating a separation between the neighborhoods around the Plaza Grande, occupied by the colonial elite, and the surrounding Maya and mestizo barrios. The word dragones doesn't refer to creatures like the alebrije shown in the first photo of this posting. It is instead the Spanish term for  heavy cavalry ("dragoons" in English) used by armies from the 16th through the early 20th Centuries. The term originated with the the French firearm called a "dragon" that was carried by mounted troops. The arch stands next to the old cuartel, or barracks used by those dragones.

Monument to Los Niños Heroes in the center of Plaza Mejorada. The "boy heroes" were six young military cadets who died in 1847 defending the Mexican Military Academy atop Chapultepec hill in Mexico City.  The school's cadets, aged 10 to 16, fiercely resisted the invading U.S. troops under General Winfield Scott. The cadets were ordered by their commander to retreat, but they refused and fought to the death. One of them, rather than allow his nation's flag to be captured, wrapped himself in it and leaped to his death from the precipice upon which the military school perched. Unlike that of the cadets, the behavior of leaders on both the Mexican and U.S. sides was something less than honorable. 

The Mexican American War was deliberately provoked by U.S. President James K. Polk. He was eager to seize the Mexican territories which now comprise the Southwest U.S. states and California, in order to allow for the expansion of slavery. Many U.S. citizens at the time were outraged at Polk's blatant war of aggression. These included a young member of Congress named Abraham Lincoln, who gave a speech on the floor of Congress strongly contesting the lies upon which the war was based.  On the Mexican side, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana totally mismanaged the war and, as a consequence, Mexico lost almost half of its territory to the U.S. 

Iglesia de la Mejorada

Iglesia de la Mejorada is also called Iglesia de la Orden. This was because the church, finished in 1640, added a convento (monastery) of the Franciscan Order in 1688. The church is built in the Romanesque style, which originated in the beginning of the European Dark Ages. Typical of this style are high, thick walls without buttresses. As seen above, small, comparatively irregular pieces of stone are used in construction, and they are heavily embedded with mortar. Romanesque windows are narrow and comparatively few in number.

The church has two campanarios, or bell towers. Each of the campanarios has three bells of varying sizes, with room for a fourth at the top. The bells are still rung by means of long ropes draped down the side of the building. The Franciscan convento adjacent to the church underwent various changes over the centuries, becoming a hospital, a prison for women, and a soldier's barracks. It became the University of Yucatan's School of Architecture in 1983. 

The single nave of the church has several chapels extending out on either side. The rounded arches of the nave and side chapels are another distinct feature of the Romanesque style. The term nave ("ship" in Spanish) may be the origin of the word "navy." When you look up at the ceiling of a church like this, you have the illusion of looking at the interior ribs of the hull of a ship. Notice the spare furnishings, another aspect of Romanesque style.

A small but elaborate retablo stands behind the altar. Enshrined in the retablo are the figures of Nuestra Señora del Carmen and the baby Jesus. Del Carmen is yet another name by which the church is known. There are many versions of the Virgin Mary within Catholicism and the formal name of this one is Nuestra Señora del Monte Carmelo, referring to Mt. Carmel in the Holy Land. In Spain, she is closely associated with the Spanish Armada (navy) and is the patron of the military in Argentina, Perú, and Chile. It is possible that the choice of this particular version of the Virgin for the Iglesia de la Mejorada is related to the nearby Cuartel de los Dragones.

One side chapel contained a shrine to a martyr of the Cristero War. Jesuit priest José Ramón Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez was executed in 1927 without trial or evidence by the government of President Plutarco Elias Calles. From the earliest days of the Conquest through the Revolution of 1910, the Mexican Catholic Church hierarchy, with a few exceptions, gave the society's elite groups strong support as they  dominated and repressed the general population. Many church institutions themselves owned haciendas where the peones were treated little better than slaves. As a result, the Church earned the bitter resentment of those who waged and won the Revolution. 

The Constitution of 1917 severely cut back the rights and privileges of the Church in society. President Calles attempted to enforce the Constitution, but he did it with an extremely heavy hand, setting off the Cristero War of 1926-1929. This was an uprising of Catholics whose battle cry was "Viva Cristo Rey!" The picture above was painted from a photograph taken of Father Miguel Pro at the time of his execution. Calles widely publicized the photo as a way to intimidate the Cristeros, but it had the opposite effect. Sixty years later, in 1988, Miguel Pro was beatified by Pope John Paul II.  

Museo del Artes Populares

An exquisite example of a terno de gala, Yucatan's traditional dress. The Museo del Arte Popular is located on the northwest corner of the Plaza de la Mejorada in an old colonial house called Casa Molina. It is open Tuesday through Sunday. Popular arts are supported and encouraged all over Mexico. They are the product of local artists and crafts people who use techniques that often go back to colonial or even pre-hispanic times. The dress above is called a "terno" because there are three parts to it: the jubon, the hipil, and the fustan. 

The jubon is a wide, flat, square founce attached to the neckline of the second piece. The hipil extends from the neck to the knees. The fustan is a long, straight skirt. All three parts are heavily embroidered using the cross-stiching technique and hemmed with lace. Many women in Mérida wear a version of the terno for day-to-day activities, including cooking tortillas and selling vegetables on the street.

Mustachioed revolutionary rides a painted pottery horse into battle. The piece, called Revolucionario, is by Alejandro Lorenzo Pantaleón and was created in 2010 to commemorate the Bicentennial of the War of Independence and the Centennial of the Revolution. Many of the pieces displayed when we visited had a similar theme. The sculpture was moulded from clay and painted with natural earth colors before being hand-burnished. The sculptor comes from San Agustín Oapan, Guerrero State.

Enough to drive you buggy. This remarkable pot comes adorned with an incredible array of butterflies and other crawly critters. Unfortunately, I found no identifying information about the potter.

Detail of the butterfly pot. The pot itself is beautifully made and painted, but the number, variety, and detail of the various insects swarming over its surface is mind-boggling. Each of these little critters was individually made and hand-painted before being attached to the pot's surface.

Columbus' ship "Pinto", made from silver thread. From hull to mast tip, this piece of silver jewelry stands about 7.62 cm (3 in.) tall. Silver thread is artfully woven to make the hull and sails, while the masts and bowsprit are made with small silver tubes. This was one of the more unusual pieces in the collection.

Inlaid wooden chest carries a patriotic theme. In Spanish, a chest like this is called a baúl. The artist was Silvano Aguirre Tejeda of Jalostotitlán in Jalisco State. The baúl is made from beautifully polished and varnished wood. In the center, below the knob, is the Mexican national emblem: an eagle sitting on nopal cactus while eating a snake. This is a symbol adopted from the Méxica (Aztec) origin myth.

Drat! The cats are drinking from the toilets again! As I strolled by this room, which I initially took for a baño (restroom), I was startled to find two nearly full-size jaguars, caught in mid-drink. This perfectly captures the odd-ball sense of humor so often found in Mexican art. The jaguars weren't real, of course, and neither was the baño, but they were enough to stop me in mid-stride. Jaguars have been powerful symbols in Mexico for more than 3000 years, since the time of the early Olmecs.

Riding the mermaid ship. The more I examined this little sculpture, the more interesting elements I discovered. There is, of course, the mermaid who forms the body of the boat. Then there are the figures inside, one of whom is pulling mightily on the oars. At the stern is a small female figure who appears to be part of the rudder. Finally, there are two male figures wearing crowns, one on either side in small rowboats. I have no idea what any of this means, but it was fascinating. 

The King of Canines. As a dog-lover, I especially liked this little fellow standing with proud alertness wearing his orange crown. Again, I was bemused by the question: "what in the world is this about?"

Charro catrino and his bony catrina girlfriend. Catrina dolls are very popular in Mexico, especially around the time of the Days of the Dead (November 1-2). They were popularized by José Guadalupe Posada, a late 19th Century cartoonist. He liked to lampoon the social pretensions of the Mexican upper classes of his day by showing them as stylishly-dressed skeletons. Posada's conception got a further boost from work of muralist Diego Rivera in the 1930s. Today, you can find catrinas in every sort of situation, from housewives washing the dishes, to golf quartets, to rock bands. The one above is a bit more traditional, showing a handsome (but a bit thin) charro, with a pretty lady on the back of his skeletal horse.

This completes Part 16 of my NW Yucatan series. Next week, we'll go to a neighborhood west of the Plaza Grande to look at Las Monjas, a 16th Century convento, along with some quirky photos from various part of the city. In the weeks after that, we will set off into the vast jungles of central Yucatan to follow the Puuc Route and visit some remote but very beautiful Maya ruins. If you'd like to make a comment on this or any other posting on my blog, please do so in the Comments section below or email me directly.

If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email so I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

NW Yucatan Part 15: Dzbilchaltún's Cenote, Ball Court, and Colonial-era ruins

Xlacah Cenote is located at the southwest corner of the Great Plaza. The name Xlacah means "Old Town" or "Old People." Cenote is a Spanish corruption of the Maya word dzonot, meaning "well." In ancient times, cenotes were the sole reliable sources of clean, fresh water in NW Yucatan. The initial settlement of this area more than 2000 years ago was probably due to this readily available water. The name Xlacah seems to support that view. Cenotes in NW Yucatan are associated with the Chicxulub Crater, created when a massive meteorite struck the northwest coast about 65 million years ago. The impact caused the worldwide extinction of the dinosaurs and other species, but there were some positive aspects. Along the curved edge of the crater, the limestone base underlying most of the Yucatan Peninsula was cracked, allowing water to further penetrate the already porus limestone. Eventually, trickling water undermined the limestone platform. These weakened areas collapsed into sinkholes, opening up underground pools and rivers that became cenotes. In this, the last of my four postings on Dzibilchaltún, I'll show you the Xlacah Cenote, the Ball Court, and the remains of some interesting Colonial-era buildings.

Once a sacred site, this is now a popular swimming hole. A Mexican tourist enjoys the cool water on a hot Yucatan day. There are no life guards, so swimming is at your own risk. The oval-shaped pool is about 30.5 m (100 ft.) at its widest point. Various groups of divers have attempted to find the bottom since the 1950s. They managed to reach a depth of 44 m (144 ft), but no one has yet found the bottom. The divers did find numerous objects made of wood, bone, and stone, as well as fragments of pottery. A number of human skeletons were also found, but it is unclear whether these were sacrifices or possibly drownings that occurred over the centuries. Some of the objects seem to have been offerings, so it is believed that this was a sacred site, not just a source of potable water.

Mouth of a small cave near the cenote. The photo above shows how a seemingly solid platform of limestone can be undermined by water leakage. The Maya believed that caves were openings into the mystical underworld, and they were especially important if they contained water. Chaac was the rain god and the Maya believed he lived in cenotes and water-filled caves. If the appropriate ceremonies and rituals were performed, accompanied with the correct offerings, Chaac would send water from the cenote or cave up to the skies to form rain. For  an agriculture-based society, this was an extremely important process. In addition, caves were closely associated with sexuality and fertility. The entrance of a cave represented the vagina and the cave itself the womb. Still another view of caves concerned life and death. That which emerged from a cave represented life, and that which descended into one represented death.


Dzibilchaltún as archaeologists found it.

This large conical pile of rubble was once part of a temple. Just outside the southwest corner of the Great Plaza are several large rocky mounds. This one has a group of sisal plants growing at its peak. The stone heap is probably 6-9 m (20-30 ft) high. Mounds like this are what archaeologists typically find when they locate a new site. A layman walking through the jungle would probably pass right by, without a second thought. It would be even easier to overlook the thousands of smaller ruins that dot the area. There are 8400 structures within the 25.7 square kilometers (16 sq. mi) of Dzibilchaltún, and the vast majority are unexcavated.

A partially restored temple, its top still covered by rubble. This temple is located near the western end of the Palace (see Part 14). There was no evidence of on-going work, so the restoration project may have run out of money or time. In many cases, large trees have taken root on top of ruins like this. Over the centuries, the jungle has reclaimed an area once swarming with human activity.

Tourists clamber over the ruins. In many of Mexico's major sites, tourists would be barred from clambering over ruined structures like this. The authorities of INAHA, the Mexican agency concerned with archaeological sites, are concerned about touritst safety, but also about the structural integrity of the ruin. I included this shot because the people help provide a sense of scale on this once-large temple.

Wildlife abounds in Yucatan. This iguana peeped up at me from a pile of rubble as I passed by. The iguanas at Dzibilchaltún seem fairly tame, probably because they are used to tourists and protected by the site staff. There 180 species of reptiles and amphibians native to Yucatan. The one above may be a Spiny Tailed Iguana (Ctenosaura defensor) which is found only in Western Yucatan.


The Ball Court

Carole and Denis approach the ball court. The view above is of the north end of the ball court. Two features found almost universally at Mesoamerican ruins are stepped pyramids and ball courts. Both kinds of structures date back to that "Mother of Cultures", the early Olmecs. Dzibilchatún's court is located a short distance to the southwest of the Palace. Its size is modest compared to the huge ball court found at Chichen Itza, but this one is still of respectable dimensions. Some ancient cities had multiple courts, but we didn't see any others during our visit. Still, they may well have been there, given the long occupancy of Dzibilchaltún and the number of unexcavated rubble piles scattered through the surrounding jungle.

The court shows many of the features found in such Mesoamerican structures, but lacks others. Here, you are looking north, from the south end of the court. The playing field, as usual, consists of a long rectangular grassy area along with the two sloping stone walls that parallel it. Spectators would have sat along the flat tops of the stone walls. However, this ball court's playing field doesn't appear to incorporate the areas at each end. In the design of many other ball courts, these areas would correspond to the short cross pieces at the top and bottom of a capital "I", but the cross pieces are missing in this court's design. At Chichen Itza and Uxmal, there are large stone rings mounted, one on each wall, through which players would have tried to propel the hard rubber ball. There are no such rings on the Dzibilchaltún court's walls. No sign was available at the sight to explain these differences, and there was no mention of this ball court in any of the on-line or printed materials I researched.

A stairway mounts the rear of each of the Ball Court's sloping walls. This would have allowed spectators to ascend to the level area where they could stand or sit along the top of the sloping walls. The ball games functioned as much more than simple entertainment. They held deep religious significance and were directly related to the Maya origin myth. The games were also used as a way to settle conflicts, sort of a combination of a Super Bowl and a Supreme Court hearing, with a High Mass thrown in for good measure.

Just beyond the ball court were more ruins. These were scattered through the forest off into the distance and may have been residential.

Remains of stucco surfacing. The ancient Maya often paved the surfaces of their plazas and sacbes (roads) with stucco made of limestone paste. The surface seen above can be found near the north entrance of the ball court. Leaves have drifted into shallow depressions in the stucco. Oddly, this prosaic pavement gave me more of a feeling of connection with these ancient people than their great temples and pyramids. I felt I was literally walking in the footsteps of those who passed this way thousands of years ago.


The Colonial-era ruins at Dzibilichaltún

In the center of the Great Plaza stand the ruins of a Colonial-era chapel. Dzibilchatún was a still-functioning Maya city when the Spanish arrived. As late as the period between 1590 and 1600, there were enough people living in and around the ancient city for church authorities to build a chapel here. The usual Spanish practice was to build such a church directly on top of an existing temple or pyramid, in order to firmly establish the dominance of the New Order. In this case, they built their chapel in the center of the Great Plaza, surrounded by all those ancient structures. However, they did cannibalize materials from the old buildings to construct their new church. The ruins seen above are the barrel vault of the presbytery with an altar in the back. Attached on the left (north) side is a small room that served as the sacristy. Extending out into the grassy area is a line of stone which was part of the foundation of the open-air nave.

The chapel, as it may have looked in early colonial times. The nave was open-aired, with a thatched roof supported by poles. This kind of simple structure was known as an "Indians' chapel". Under its thatched canopy, the Maya were taught the elements of their conquerors' religion. The nave is, of course, long gone due to the perishable materials with which it was constructed.

The presbytery containing the altar beneath the barrel vault. Above the altar, you can see two niches, no doubt containing religious statues when the chapel was functioning.

The "Priest's House" lies just north of the chapel. I wasn't certain whether this was colonial or pre-hispanic until I saw the arched window (left). Since the Maya never achieved the true arch in their architecture, this was definitely the house where Franciscan friars stayed during their circuits through the area. Found inside the house was a piece of stone carved with the date 1539. The significance of the stone's date is unknown, but the military part of the Conquest of Yucatan was in full swing at that time. Mérida wasn't founded as the colonial capital until 1542.

Gate to a Colonial-era corral. At one time, Dzibilchaltún was part of a hacienda that apparently raised cattle and horses. In the background, the massive stairway of the Palace rises to its top platform, lined with 35 doorways. I wondered what a colonial vaquero (cowboy) might have thought of the great temples and palaces standing silently around him as he tended his herds.

This completes Part 15 of my NW Yucatan series, and is the last of four segments on Dzibilchaltún. I am proud of this four-part subseries, since it may represent the most comprehensive record of this ancient city available on the internet. I hope you have enjoyed this posting. If you would like to provide feedback, please do so in the Comments section below or email me directly.

If you would like to leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so that I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim

NW Yucatan Part 14: The Dzibilchaltún Great Plaza's South and East sides.

Looking west down the stadium-like steps of the Palace. In parts 12 and 13 of my NW Yucatan series, I showed Dzibilchaltún's Temple of the Seven Dolls, and the North and West sides of the Great Plaza containing the Main Pyramid, the temple/residential complex known as Structure 38, and the Standing Temple. In this posting, we'll complete the circuit with a look at the south and east sides of the plaza. To help orient yourself, you might want to refer briefly back to Part 13 for a schematic showing the whole Great Plaza area.  Dzibilchaltún contains a number of features unique among Maya cities. To begin with, it sets the record for the longest continuous occupation: over 2000 years. In this posting we'll see a couple more of those record-setting features.


Edifice 44: The Palace

Edifice 44 (the "Palace") takes up the whole south side of  the plaza. In the site map above, you see a top-down view. The arrow points to the immensely long set of fifteen stairs leading to the top of three stepped platforms. On the top platform is a long series of pillars, which are actually doorways into the now-roofless structure. According to the sign at its base, the whole building is 130 m (420 ft) long, and the steps are the longest to be found in all of Mesoamerica. The 35 doorways at the top level exceed in number any other set of doors to be found in the Maya region. The rectangular structure at the back of the long platform (upper right) contains several rooms of unknown purpose.

The east end of the Palace was built with rounded corners. Such corners are fairly unusual in Maya construction. The only others I have seen are on the Sorcerer's Pyramid at Uxmal. The Palace was built during four different periods of Dzibilchaltún's history, with some sections covered over by successive constructions.

View of the grand staircase looking east. The Palace was in use from the peak of the Classic era well into the Post-Classic (600 AD - 1000 AD). Although archaeologists nicknamed it the Palace, the building appears to have functioned more like a set of stadium seats. From them, hundreds of spectators could view the various religious and political rituals conducted in the Great Plaza. In the foreground is a stone wall from a Colonial-era corral.

The top platform of the Palace has 35 doorways.  All the doorways opened into a single long room, the roof of which is missing and may have been made of perishable materials. In the photo, you are looking directly east. Ancient people sitting on the steps of the Palace (to the left, below the pillars) would have had a spectacular view of processions emerging through the northeast entrance of the Great Plaza, after having traveled along the 400 m length of Sacbe 1 from the Temple of the Seven Dolls (see Part 12).

At the center of the long staircase, near the top, is a small entrance. Had this structure been an actual palace, with residential and/or administrative functions, it would have been full of rooms and hallways. Instead, the huge building contains this single doorway into its interior. This reinforces the impression that its purpose was to provide seating for extravaganzas in the Great Plaza.

The Palace entrance door leads to this hallway. Off the hallway to the right are three doorways opening into small rooms. These may have been for storage of materials related to the rituals in the plaza. Notice the corbel or "false" arch at the end of the hall on the left of the photo. The Maya never mastered the technique of the true arch, which meant that their buildings had to have thick walls and small rooms. Also notice the small objects hanging from the doorways at the upper left of the photo.

Above the doorways at the end of the hall were several hives. The bees (or possibly wasps) were not aggressive, thank goodness, and remained calm while I photographed them. The dark wooden lintel beams on the right do not appear to be original. They were probably placed there by the people who did the restoration work.


The East Side Complex

View of the East Side Complex from the top of the Palace. Because this set of structures is unnamed in any of the literature I have examined, I have dubbed it the "East Side Complex". Partially obscured by a tree is a long low platform with rooms along the top.  The platform is reached by a long staircase with five steps. In the center of the platform is a higher, but narrower, staircase. There are three sets of rooms on top of this platform, with a central cluster containing most of them. Two sets of rooms, identical to each other but smaller than the central group, are sited to the north and south of the center.

Site map of the East Side Complex. At the lower left is the eastern corner of Edifice 44 (the "Palace"). In the center is the complex seen in the previous photo, which--given the number of rooms-- was probably a true palace with residential and/or administrative functions. Above that are the two small temples which will be seen at the end of this posting. Above the small temples, out of sight, is the Main Pyramid, separated from the temples by Sacbe 1, which enters the Great Plaza at the northeast corner. Sacbe 1 is the ancient road that leads to the Temple of the Seven Dolls. These three structures make up the entire east side of the Great Plaza area. Oddly, they are ignored by all literature, either printed or on-line, that I can find relating to Dzibilchaltún's Great Plaza. Even a schematic of the plaza distributed by the Dzibilchaltún museum itself shows only a blank space in this area. The site map above is a detail from the overall Great Plaza site map (see Part 13) located near the Main Pyramid. The East Side Complex itself has no informational sign or site map devoted to its structures.

View of the southern end of the East Side Complex from atop the Palace. At the back of the platform, a set of four doorways leads into a narrow room. Between the doorways and the stairs leading up to the platform is a broad porch area. The year-round warm climate would have allowed various domestic activities to occur in this area, so large interior rooms would not have been necessary.

Closeup of the rooms at the rear of the East Side Complex. Above, you get a better view of the four doorways and the rooms into which they lead. The walls are thick and the rooms are small, indicating that they were probably used mostly for privacy, sleeping, or protection from the occasional rains. An identical set of rooms sits on the northern end of this platform. The eastern end of the Palace, from which I took the previous photo, can be seen in the upper right of the photo above.

View of the central cluster of rooms and its approach staircase. Most of the rooms in the East Side complex were grouped in this area, and it was clearly the most important part of this complex. Given that it faces directly onto the plaza, the East Side Complex was probably the residence of very important members of the elite class, perhaps the family of the ruler himself.

A line of identical doorways opens into of the central cluster of rooms. The rooms were not much bigger than a modern prison cell. The wooden lintels over the doors are part of the reconstruction. In the Yucatan climate, materials such as wood are very perishable.

Another view of two of the central cluster of rooms. These two rooms are divided down the middle by a wall. They were about 4 m (12 ft) long and 1.5-2 m wide (4-6 ft) wide.

Someone blocked a doorway in the East Side Complex. It was not clear to me whether the door had been blocked by the ancient people for some unknown reason, or whether it was filled up by the restoration crew to support the wall.


The East Side Temples

View from the Main Pyramid of the two small temples on the Great Plaza's east side. These temples form the northern section of the East Side Complex. The path you can see crossing diagonally just below the Main Pyramid is part of Sacbe 1 as it enters the northeast corner of the Great Plaza. Not much is left of the nearer temple, just a stone platform about .5 m (1.5 ft) high and probably 7 m X 10 m (20 ft X30 ft) in size. It may have been a sort of dance platform, or there may have once been a structure on top, made of perishable materials.

The larger temple is a rectangle with a nine-step front staircase. Nine was a sacred number to the ancient Maya and temples are often found with that number of stairs leading up to the top platform. For example, the famous Castillo (also known as the Pirámide de Kukulkan) at Chichen Itza is a structure made up of nine stepped platforms. The number nine is closely associated with both the Maya calendar and their nine-step underworld. The top of the temple contains the remains of an ancient altar.

Another view of the altar atop the second temple. The view is to the southwest, with the Palace stairs visible at the upper left of the photo. The people in the background can provide a sense of scale. There was no indication, when we visited, of what god or gods were worshiped on this platform. Like so much of the ancient Maya world, this remains a mystery.

This completes Part 14 of my NW Yucatan series. In the next part, we will conclude our visit to  Dzibilchaltún with a look at the sacred Xlacah Cenote, the Ball Court, and the Colonial-era ruins. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the longest-occupied city in the ancient Mesoamerican world. I appreciate feedback, so if you would like to provide some, either leave your thoughts in the Comments section below or email me directly.

If you leave a question in the Comments section, PLEASE leave your email address so I can respond.

Hasta luego, Jim