HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE II

(13AR1303)
Module 2

MAYAN ARCHITECTURE

Hudha Abdul Salam

Assistant Professor
Department of Architecture
TKMCE, Kollam

Mayan Architecture (Example; City of Chichen Itza, Mexico and Tikal Temples, Guatemala)
 MAYAN ARCHITECTURE
 An advanced society that flourished in MESOAMERICA
 Till sixteenth century
 Skilled architects – building & great cities of stone remain even a thousand
years after their civilization fell into decline.
 Maya built pyramids, temples, palaces, walls, residences and more.
 Often decorated their buildings with intricate stone carvings, stucco
statues, and paint.
 stone carvings depicting battles, wars, kings, dynastic successions
 Never a unified empire ruled by a single ruler from a single place
 A series of smaller city states who ruled the immediate vicinity
 City states traded with and warred upon one another frequently, so
cultural Important Maya city states were Tikal, Dos Pilas, Calakmul,
Caracol, Copán, Quiriguá, Palenque, Chichén Itzá and Uxmal
 Every Maya city is different, they tended to share certain characteristics,
such as general layout.
THE CITY CENTER
 Great temples, palaces, and pyramids in their city centers.
 Mighty stone structures, over which wooden buildings and thatched roofs
 City center was the physical and spiritual heart of the city
 Important rituals were done there, in the temples, palaces, and ball
courts.
MAYA HOMES

 Maya kings lived in stone palaces in the city center near the temples
 Common people lived in small houses outside the city center
 Homes tended to be bunched together in clusters
 May be in some cases; extended families lived together in one area.
 Simple structures constructed mostly of wooden poles and thatch ( even
today the people over there have similar homes)
 They tended to build up a mound or base and then build upon it
 As the wood and thatch wore away or rotted they would tear it down and
build again on the same foundation
 Common Maya were forced to build on lower ground than the palaces
and temples in the city center
MAYA TEMPLES

 Built of stone platforms & on the top wooden and thatch structures
 Temples tended to be pyramids, with steep stone steps leading to the top
 Many temples are graced by elaborate stone carvings and glyphs
 Most magnificent example - Heiroglyphic Stairway at Copán
 Temples were often built with astronomy in mind: certain temples are aligned
to the movements of Venus, the sun or moon
 At Tikal there is a pyramid which faces three other temples - If you're standing
on the pyramid, the other temples are aligned with the rising sun on
equinoxes and
 solstices.
MAYA PALACES
 Palaces were large, multi-storied buildings - home to the king and royal
family
 Made of stone with wooden structures on top
 Roofs were made of thatch.
 Some Maya palaces are spacious, including courtyards, different structures
that were possibly homes, patios, towers, etc
 The palace at Palenque is a good example
 Some of the palaces are quite large -they might also acted as a sort of
administrative center
 A place where the king and noblemen interact with the common people &
visitors from other cities
 Feasts, dances, and other community social events could also have taken
place there.
BALL COURTS
 The ceremonial ball game was an important part of Maya life
 Common and noble people alike played for fun and recreation & some had
important religious and spiritual significance
 Ball courts, which were rectangular with sloped walls on either side, were
prominently placed in Maya cities
 Some of the more important cities had several courts
 Ball courts were sometimes used for other ceremonies and events.
Examples

City of Chichen Itza, Mexico

Tikal temples, Guatemala
 Chichen Itza, Mexico
 Chichen Itza ruined ancient Maya city occupying an area of 10 square km
 Only source of water in the arid region around the site is from wells (cenotes)
formed by sinkholes in limestone formations
 Two big cenotes on the site made it a suitable place for the city and gave it
its name, from chi (―mouths‖), chen (“wells”),
 & Itzá- the Maya tribe that settled in the place
 Chichén Itzá was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.
 Chichén was founded about the 6th century presumably by Maya peoples
who had occupied the region since the Pre Classic, or Formative Period
(1500 BC – 300 AD)
 The principal early buildings are in an architectural style known as Puuc,
which shows a number of divergences from other styles
 Structures to the south of the Main Plaza include the Akabtzib (―House of
the Dark Writing‖), the Chichanchob (―Red House‖), the Iglesia (―Church‖),
the Casa de las Monjas (―Nunnery‖), and the observatory El Caracol (―The
Snail‖).
 In the 10th century, after the collapse of the Maya cities of the southern
lowlands, Chichén was invaded by foreigners
 They were the Itzá tribe for whom the site is named
 The invaders started additions to the city such as Castillo, Ball courts
 EL CASTILLO
 El Castillo (―The Castle‖) - a pyramid that rises 79 feet (24 metres) above the
Main Plaza.
 El Castillo has four sides, each with 91 stairs and facing a cardinal direction
 These combine to a total of 365 steps—the number of days in the solar year
 During the spring and autumnal equinoxes, shadows cast by the setting sun
give the appearance of a snake undulating down the stairways
 A carving of a plumed serpent at the top of the pyramid is one of the major
deities of the ancient Mesoamerican pantheon
 Another, earlier structure contained a red jaguar throne
 The pyramid consists of a series of nine square terraces, each approximately
2.57 metres (8.4 ft) high, with a 6metre (20 ft) high temple upon the summit
 The sides of the pyramid are approximately 55.3 metres (181 ft) at the
 base and rise at an angle of 53°, although that varies slightly for each
 Side
 The four faces of the pyramid have protruding stairways that rise at an angle
of 45°
 The talud walls of each terrace slant at an angle of between 72° and 74°
 At the base of the balustrades of the northeastern staircase are carved
heads of a serpent
 Ball Court
 The ball court is 545 feet (166 metres) long and 223 feet (68 metres) wide, the
largest such court in the Americas
 Six sculpted reliefs run the length of the walls of the court, depicting the
victors of the game holding the head of a member of the losing team
 On the upper platform at one end of the court stands the Temple of the
Jaguars
 Inside of temple is a mural showing warriors laying siege to a village
 Standing on the platform of the temple to the north of the court, it is possible
to hear a whisper from 150 feet (46 metres) away.
 EL CARACOL
 El Caracol, the Observatory, is a unique structure at the Maya civilization site
of Chichen Itza.
 El Caracol, which means 'snail‗ in Spanish, is so named due to the spiral
staircase inside the tower
 Other structures include the High Priest‘s Grave and the Colonnade
(Thousand Columns) and the adjoining Temple of the Warriors.
 Most of these buildings probably were completed in the Early PostClassic
Period ( c. 900–1200).
 In the Late PostClassic Period ( c. 1200–1540), Chichén appears to have
been eclipsed by the rise of other cites