Mayan Architecture
Buildings by the Mexican Maya, Past and Present
By Jackie Craven, About.com Guide
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Descendants of the Maya still live and work near where their ancestors built great cities on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Working with earth, stone, and straw, early Mayan builders designed structures that shared striking similarities with architecture in Egypt, Africa, and Medieval Europe. Many of the same building traditions can be found in the simple, practical dwellings of modern-day Mayans. Let's look at some of the universal elements found in homes, monuments, and temples of the Mexican Maya, past and present.
Note: Select the photos for a larger view.
What type of houses do the Maya live in today?
Mayan stone hut ©2009 Jackie Craven
Some Maya live in houses today that were built from the same mud and limestone used by their ancestors. From roughly 500 BC to 1200 AD Mayan civilization flourished throughout Mexico and Central America. In the 1800s, explorers John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwoodwrote about and illustrated the ancient Maya Architecture they saw. The great stone structures survived.
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Modern Ideas and Ancient Ways
Mayan Hut ©2009 Jackie Craven
The 21st century Maya are connected to the world by cell phones. Often you can see solar panels near their simple huts made of rough wooden sticks and thatched roofing.
Although well-known as a roofing material in certain cottages found in the United Kingdom, the use of thatch for roofing is an ancient art practiced in many parts of the world.
Ancient Mayan Architecture
A thatched roof may have adorned these ancient ruins. Photo ©2009 Jackie Craven
Many ancient ruins have been partially rebuilt after careful study and examination by archeologists and historians. Like Mayan huts of today, ancient cities at Chichén Itzá and Tulum in Mexico were built with mud, limestone, stone, wood, and thatch. Over time, wood and thatch deteriorate, pulling down pieces of the more sturdy stone. Experts often make educated guesses about how ancient cities looked based on how the Maya live today. The Maya of ancient Tulum may have used thatched roofing as their descendant do today.
How did the Maya build?
Corbel arch ©2009 Jackie Craven
Over many centuries, Mayan engineering evolved by trial and error. Many structures have been discovered built over older structures that inevitably had fallen. Mayan architecture typically included corbeled arches and corbeled vault roofs on important buildings. A corbel is known today as a type of ornamental or support bracket, but centuries ago corbeling was a masonry technique. Think of feathering a deck of cards to create a stack where one card is slightly edged over another. With two stacks of cards, you can build a type of arch. Visually a corbeled arch looks like an unbroken curve, but, as you can see from this Tulum entrance, the top frame is unstable and quickly deteriorates.
Without continued repair, this technique is not a sound engineering practice. Stone arches are now defined by a "keystone," the top stone at the arch center. Nevertheless, you will find corbeled construction techniques on some of the world's greatest architecture, such as theGothic pointed arches of medieval Europe.
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Ancient Skyscrapers
El Castillo ©2009 Jackie Craven
The Pyramid of Kukulcan El Castillo at Chichén Itzá was the skyscraper of its day. Centrally located within a large plaza, the stepped pyramid temple to the god Kukulcan has four staircases leading to a top platform. Early Egyptian pyramids used a similar terraced pyramid construction. Many centuries later, the jazzy "ziggurat" shape of these structures found their way into the design of art deco skyscrapers of the 1920s.
Each of the four staircases has 91 steps, for a total of 364 steps. The pyramid's top platform creates the 365th step—equal to the number of days in the year. The height is achieved by layering stones, creating a nine-stepped terraced pyramid—one terrace for each Mayan underworld or hell. Adding the number of step layers (9) to the number of pyramid sides (4) results in the number of heavens (13) symbolically represented by the architecture of El Castillo. Nine hells and 13 heavens are intertwined in the spiritual world of the Maya.
Acoustical researchers have found remarkable echo qualities that produce animal-like sounds from the long stairways. Like the sound qualities built into the Mayan ball court, these acoustics are by design.
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- Archaeological acoustic study of chirped echo from the Mayan pyramid at Chichen Itza, in the Yucatan Region of Mexico by accoustical researcher David Lubman (1998)
Kukulkan El Castillo Detail
Head of the feathered serpent Kukulkan at the base of the Chichen Itza pyramid ©2009 Jackie Craven
Just as modern-day architects design structures to capitalize on natural lighting, the Maya of Chichén Itzá built El Castillo to take advantage of a seasonal lighting phenomenon. The Pyramid of Kukulcan is positioned such that the sun's natural light is shadowed off the steps twice a year, creating an effect of a feathered serpent. Called the god Kukulcan, the serpent appears to slither down the pyramid's side during the spring and autumn equinox. The animated effect culminates at the base of the pyramid, with the carved feathered head of the serpent.
In part, this detailed restoration has made Chichén Itzá a UNESCO World Heritage site and top tourist attraction.
Mayan Temples
Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza, ©2009 Jackie Craven
The Temple de los Guerreros—Temple of the Warriors—at Chichén Itzá demonstrates the cultural spirituality of a people. The columns, both square and round, are not so different from the columns found in many parts of the world, including the Classical architecture of Greek and Rome. The Group of the Thousand Columns at the Temple of the Warriors no doubt held up an elaborate roof, which covered those humans being sacrificed and the statues that held human remains.
The reclining statue of Chac Mool atop this temple may have held a human offering to the god Kukulcan, as the Temple of the Warriors faces the great Pyramid of Kukulcan El Castillo at Chichén Itzá.
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Monumental Mayan Architecture
Tulum Castle ©2009 Jackie Craven
The most grand building of the ancient Mayan city is known to us today as a castle pyramid. In Tulum, the castle overlooks the Caribbean Sea. Although Mayan pyramids are not always built alike, most all have steep stairways with a low wall called an alfarda on each side—similar in use to a balustrade.
Archeologists call these large ceremonial structures Monumental Architecture. Modern architects may call these buildings Public Architecture, as they are places where the public gathers. In comparison, the well-known pyramids in Giza have smoother sides and were built as tombs. Astronomy and mathematics were important to Mayan civilization. In fact, Chichén Itzá has an observatory building similar to ancient structures found around the world.
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