The 6 th century was when Teotihuacan saw its peak in terms of wealth and prosperity. The city was then inhabited by more than one hundred and fifty thousand people. These people had their home within the twenty four square kilo meters that made up the great city of Teotihuacan Mexico. The main occupation of the ancient residents was mining. They mined mainly for Obsidian, a beautiful black volcanic glass.

Teotihuacan city saw its peak in the 6 th century, but things soon became quite bleak for the city. In the 7 th century, the city saw a fast decline. The city was looted by invaders, and was left for nothing, in ruins. The sacred site of Teotihuacan Mexico was destroyed and abandoned.

However, it is said that the later races, such as the Aztecs and the Toltecs, still honored the holy site. It was the Aztecs that named the site as “Teotihuacan”. Teotihuacan actually meant the “city where the birth of the gods took place”. The name which existed prior to the destruction is still unknown. The Aztecs believed that the universe was created from here by the gods.

The Avenida de los muertos was a central location around which the entire city was arranged. The thoroughfare is now the chief road where the tourists and vendors are. There are a number of routes that are less popular and these are excellent for some peace and quiet.

There are a number of places to see, and these ate inclusive of the Pyramid of the sun, or the Piramide del Sol. This is the trhird largest Pyramid in the workld, and is heigted at seventy meters and has a total of two hundred and forty eight steps that lead right upto the top, where you can enjoy some of the most spectacular views. The Piramide de la Luna, or the Pyramid nof the Moon, is a beautiful pyramid, and is located at the northern side of the city.

The site is full of superb stone buildings out of which many are restored and all of them are linked by a dense system of 100 paved roads called sacbeob. Based on the archaeological styles, the buildings are grouped in architectonic sets wherein each set is separated via low walls. Some of these grouped complexes include the Great North Platform containing El Castillo, Temple of Warriors, and the Great Ball Court; The Ossario Group holding the Ossario pyramid and the Temple of Xtoloc; and the Central Group encompassing the Caracol, Las Monjas, and Akab Dzib.

Prime Sites

El Castillo (The Castle)

Known as the Temple of Kukulkan, this is a step pyramid whose floor is covered with square terraces and contains stairways to the temple atop. When the sun sets and rises on the spring and autumn equinox, a corner along the west of north staircase emits a serpent-liked shadow – Kukulcan or Quetzalcoatl. There is also another temple below the current one within whose chamber is a Chac Mool statue and a throne shaped like a Jaguar.

Great Ball Court

There are many courts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame among which this is the most stunning and largest of its kind at 150 m to the north-west of the Castillo. It is the largest ball court in ancient Mesoamerica. Atop the 12 m tall walls, there are rings with interlacing serpents. At the bottom of the high walls, inclined benches with panels of ball players are amazing.

Platform of Venus

Dedicated to the planet Venus and located between El Castillo and the Cenote Sagrado, its interior holds a collection of big stone cones.

Sacbe Number One

Leading to the Cenote Sagrado, this is the largest and most elongated white road in Chichen Itza Mexico. It starts at a low wall at some metres away from the Platform of Venus.

Cenote Sagrado

With no rivers, the Yucatan Peninsula is a limestone plain spotted with innate sinkholes known as cenotes that render the water table on the plain. This cenote is among the most stunning ones with steep cliffs projecting to the water table at 27 m below. Historically, this place was sacred where the Maya people performed sacrifices in times of drought. This is evident from the removal of many objects at its bottom such as gold, jade, obsidian, shell, wood, cloth, and skeletons of children and men.

Temple of the Warriors

This complex holds a large stepped pyramid with rows of carved columns of warriors. Atop the stairway on the peak, there is a Chac Mool temple that consists of a earlier structure called The Temple of the Chac Mool.

Ossario

This monument has four sides each holding staircases. A temple atop leads into the pyramid and then further to a natural cave at 12 metres below. On excavation, several skeletons and relics including jade beads were found in the cave.

Temple of Xtoloc

Overlooking the other big cenote at Chichen Itza Mexico, the temple holds a myriad of pilasters adorned with the carvings of people, plants, birds, and mythological scenes. Located between the Xtoloc temple and the Ossario, you will find Platform of Venus, Platform of the Tombs, and a round structure.

Las Monjas

This is among the remarkable monuments in Chichen Itza Mexico, which is a region of Terminal Classic buildings exhibiting the Puuc architectural style. To the east, a small temple nicknamed as The Church is worth visiting with its ornate masks of the rain god Chaac.

Attracting thousands of visitors, Palenque is not that huge in size, but boasts a few exemplary art pieces of the superb architecture, sculpture, roof comb and bas-relief carvings of the Maya community.

Important Monuments

The Palace

In Maya Palenque, this is actually a compound of a myriad of linked buildings and courtyards that took several generations to build. It is the home of several superb sculptures, bas-relief carvings, and the unique four-storey tower.

Temple of the Inscriptions

This super monument, a funerary tombstone of Hanab-Pakal, holds the second longest glyphic text of the Maya world. It tells the story of 180 years of the city’s past from the 4th to the 12th K’atun. The records that tell this story emphasize on the city’s patron deities together called the Palenque Triad or independently as GI, GII, and GIII. The Pyramid here is crowned with the Summit temple with some of the largest stones.

Here, a passageway in the floor of the back room of the temple is a long stairway taking you to the Pakal’s tomb who was the famous Mayan ruler. This tomb is worth a visit due to its giant sarcophagus, the luxurious jewelry, and the stucco art on the walls. From the tomb, a distinctive psychoduct symbolizes the leaving of the soul at death according to the Mayan understanding marked by the phrase ochb’ihaj sak ik’il (the white road-entered) in the inscriptions. The icon of the sarcophagus top represents Pakal to be one of the incarnations of the Maya Maize God rising from the underworld.

Temples of the Cross Group

These include some of the most elegant structures on the step pyramids – the Temple of the Cross, Temple of the Sun, and Temple of the Foliated Cross. Each one of them holds an ornately carved relief in the inner section signifying two icons of ritual items and carvings. The middle tablet shows two pictures of Kan B’ahlam – the smaller depicts K’inich Kan B’ahlam during a passage ritual when 6 years old, while the larger shows his kingship at 48.

The Aqueduct

Built with grand stone blocks, this marvel holds a 3 m vault so that the Otulum River could pass underneath the main plaza of Maya Palenque.

The Temple of the Lion

Located at a distance of 200 m south of the main temples, this temple is so named because of the ornate bas-relief carving of a king seated on a throne seeming like a jaguar.

Maya Palenque, even today, is the most frequently visited site that stirs much fondness among the tourists as compared with any Mesoamerican ruin.

Tracing its history, many archaeologists are of the opinion that Machu Picchu was constructed in 1430 A.D. in the classical Inca style with dry-stone walls for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). Known as the ‘The Lost City of the Incas’, it has until now attracted many tourists from all around the world. Introduced to the world in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham, Machu Picchu is both a cultural and sacred destination.

Lucky enough to be not ransack by the Spanish at the time of invading the Incas, much of its holy rocks and temples are in a well preserved state.

Knowing the Site

The ruins of Machu Picchu are split into two main areas: Urban sector and Agricultural Sector through a wall. The urban sector was further subdivided into the Sacred District, the Popular District to the south, and the District of the Priests and the Nobility. On the other hand, the Agricultural Sector was further split into Upper and Lower sectors.

The Incas were the experts of the ashlar art wherein the stone blocks are cut to attach to each other tightly without mortar to tolerate the seismic shakes. The walls depict the various design details that could prevent them from collapsing during an earthquake. The doors and windows are trapezoidal with rounded corners and inward tilt. Machu Picchu tours are famous all over for such architecture.

The area holds 140 structures – temples, sanctuaries, parks, and residences with thatched roofs. Further, over 100 stone steps carved from a granite block and numerous water fountains interconnected by channels are also traced here. It could be seen that this irrigation system provided water to the houses from a holy spring.

Structures

The main monuments are the Intihuatana, the Temple of the Sun, and the Room of the Three Windows located in the Sacred District of Machu Picchu. All of them were devoted to Inti, their most revered deity – the sun god. The Popular District, Residential District, was the residing place of the lower class people and holds storage buildings and simple houses. The royalty area, for the nobility, boasts several houses in rows. There is also a Monumental Mausoleum, a statue with vaulted interior and drawings for rituals or sacrifices.

The Intihuatana ritual stone is one of such stones in South America, which is an astronomic clock pointing straight to the sun at winter solstice. Intihuatana means “The Hitching Post of the Sun” and it represents the wonderful arrangement of stones that are believed to grip the sun at their place. Exactly at 12 in the afternoon on March 21 and September 21, the sun places itself above the pillar with no shadow. There a lot of people coming here for Machu Picchu tours.