Palenque

One of the most beautiful archaeological sites in Mexico is the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque.  Palenque is located in the tropical rainforest of the state of Chiapas. 

 

 

In the 7th century, Palenque was at its height, and was one of the most powerful city states in the Mayan world.  The archaeological site is relatively small, but contains some of the most outstanding architecture and carvings produced by the Mayas.  Furthermore, what the visitor sees is only a fraction of the entire city.  Archaeologists guess that they only explored 10% of the ruins, and that thousands of structures are still covered by jungle.

 

I have visited Palenque twice.  The first time was back in the 1980s on a summer vacation to Mexico.  The second time was in the winter of 2010.  On the first trip, even though it was during the rainy season, the weather was better than on the second trip.  On my second visit, the skies were overcast (as you can see by my photos), although it did not rain.

 

The most impressive building at Palenque is the Temple of the Inscriptions.

 

 

 

 

This pyramid was begun during the reign of Palenque's greatest king, Lord Pakal, and completed by his son.  In 1952, the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Ruz was studying the temple at the top.  He noticed that one of the stones in the floor of the temple had holes in each corner, as if it had been lowered into place.  The stone was removed and revealed a stairway, filled in with rubble, that descended into the heart of the pyramid.  Ruz and his team laboriously cleared the rubble and found that the stairs led to a burial chamber where Lord Pakal was interred.  This was the first time that a burial had been found within a Mexican pyramid.  (Unlike the Egyptian pyramids, the primary purpose of the Mesoamerican pyramids was to elevate their temples closer to the gods.)

 

The king's tomb was covered with an intricately carved slab of stone.  The carving shows a man in a reclining position.  Some crackpots have theorized that it depicts a ancient astronaut at the controls of his spaceship!  However, any archaeologist familiar with Mayan iconography can tell you what the carving represents...

 

(image from the web)

 

The carving depicts Lord Pakal at the moment of his death as he is poised between heaven and the underworld.  Above him is the tree of creation with the celestial bird perched at its top.  Beneath him are the jaws of the underworld.

 

 

When the huge slab was removed, it revealed the sarcophagus containing the bones of Pakal.  The jade jewelry that was buried with him was still in place. (To the Mayas, jade was more precious that gold.)  The jewelry, including Pakal's jade burial mask, are now in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

 

 

 

(image from the web)

 







 

When I first visited Palenque, I was able to climb the pyramid and descend into the burial chamber.  Now, however, with increased tourism to the site, visitors are no longer permitted to climb the pyramid.

 

Across from the Temple of the Inscriptions is the Palace.  It was built atop an artificial terrace in the fourth century.  Lord Pakal enlarged and beautified the complex.  The thatched roofs were replaced with stone roofs, and the palace was adorned with stucco ornamentation and bas-relief carvings.

 

 

 

The Palace features a number of open courtyards, and a unique four-story tower, which may have been used as a watchtower or as an astronomical observatory.

 

In some places you can still see traces of the original stucco decorations.

 

 

 

A number of carvings show kings in submissive poses.  These may depict lords of enemy cities who were captured in battle.

 

 

 

In this gallery of the palace you can see the corbelled arches which were used in Mayan architecture.  The Mayas, for all their great skill, never developed the true arch.

 



Beyond the Palace is another group of temples.  This group was built by Lord Pakal's son, K'inich Kan B'alam, to commemorate his accession to the throne.  Climbing of these pyramids is still permitted. The Temple of the Foliated Cross looks as if it is about to be consumed by the rainforest behind it.  (Indeed, if the site were not constantly cleared by workers, the jungle would overtake all of Palenque again.)

 

 

Next to it is the Temple of the Cross.  It contains bas relief carvings depicting Lord K'inich Kan B'alam.



From the top, you can look down at the other smaller temples in the group, including the Temple of the Sun, to the left.

A view of the Temple of Inscriptions and the Palace from the Temple of the Cross.

In 711, Palenque was sacked by the army of the enemy city of Toniná.  The king, the grandson of Lord Pakal, was taken prisoner.  He was hauled off to Toniná, probably to be sacrificed.  Palenque's golden age came to an end.  There was no new construction in the city after the 8th century.  An agricultural population may have continued living there amid the glories of the past for a few generations.  Eventually, the city was completely abandoned.  The forest took over, and the great city remained hidden for centuries.