We are at Palenque considered by some as the pinnacle of Mayan building magnificence ! We stayed nearby so were early to beat the rush and the crowds. The town has grown up simply to service the temple visitors.
The city grew from about 100 BC and by 600-900 AD it had reached the pinnacle of development ruling over a large area that is now Chiapas and Tabasco. Work is still progressing and there are many more buildings yet to be unearthed from their cover of forest humas and vegetation. It is an inspiration for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" fans.
We had great weather and an excellent local guide so were able to visit an extensive area, enter lots of the buildings and climb the very steep steps up the face of the pyramids.
Our first stop was the Temple of the Skull, Built in about 800 AD it sits over two earlier temples.
Temple XIII, The Tomb of the Red Queen, was one where we could climb the steps and go inside. Narrow passages and inscriptions adorned the walls.
Gail inside the temple passageways.
The magnificent Temple of Inscriptions. The other two temples are behind.
This temple has been a great source of information about the Maya. There were limestone tablets discovered that contained glyphic text that eventually resulted in the code to the language being discovered. It also contains the sarcophagus of Pakel II. It was discovered in 1952 and you could go in for 50 years but is now closed. You can see a copy of the sarcophagus in the museum as we did!
It is a work of art!
The Palace stands opposite and is very large. It was built to hold the many wives and children of the ruler. It was a highly hierarchical society.
Inside the Palace.
The tower was added much later around 800 AD
The archaeologists are currently working on this site and just 4 days ago they discovered through this hole an entrance into the inner section of the Palace.Who knows what they will find!
Rob climbs another temple and looks down on Gail near the Palace.
We looked at many more structures but also called into the attached museum.
All the exhibits relate to Palenque.
Both of these are incense burners.
The sarcophagus found in the Temple of Inscriptions was tool large to remove so as it is now closed to viewers they have a quality reproduction.
Found on 15 June 1952
The sarcophagus.
This was a stunning location and a must see place.
The city grew from about 100 BC and by 600-900 AD it had reached the pinnacle of development ruling over a large area that is now Chiapas and Tabasco. Work is still progressing and there are many more buildings yet to be unearthed from their cover of forest humas and vegetation. It is an inspiration for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" fans.
We had great weather and an excellent local guide so were able to visit an extensive area, enter lots of the buildings and climb the very steep steps up the face of the pyramids.
Our first stop was the Temple of the Skull, Built in about 800 AD it sits over two earlier temples.
Temple XIII, The Tomb of the Red Queen, was one where we could climb the steps and go inside. Narrow passages and inscriptions adorned the walls.
Gail inside the temple passageways.
The magnificent Temple of Inscriptions. The other two temples are behind.
This temple has been a great source of information about the Maya. There were limestone tablets discovered that contained glyphic text that eventually resulted in the code to the language being discovered. It also contains the sarcophagus of Pakel II. It was discovered in 1952 and you could go in for 50 years but is now closed. You can see a copy of the sarcophagus in the museum as we did!
It is a work of art!
The Palace stands opposite and is very large. It was built to hold the many wives and children of the ruler. It was a highly hierarchical society.
Inside the Palace.
The tower was added much later around 800 AD
The archaeologists are currently working on this site and just 4 days ago they discovered through this hole an entrance into the inner section of the Palace.Who knows what they will find!
Rob climbs another temple and looks down on Gail near the Palace.
We looked at many more structures but also called into the attached museum.
All the exhibits relate to Palenque.
Both of these are incense burners.
The sarcophagus found in the Temple of Inscriptions was tool large to remove so as it is now closed to viewers they have a quality reproduction.
Found on 15 June 1952
The sarcophagus.
This was a stunning location and a must see place.
2 comments:
It's extra fascinating visiting archeological sites when they say "and we just found this on Monday..." although the creepiest thing I've EVER seen was a Mayan sarcophogas (or sacrifical stone, I just remember the nightmares) with bloodthirsty carvings.
Fantastic, would love to go here. I bet Indiana Jones has been there too.
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