Tikal, the ancient Maya city

Wow, this place is incredible! 🌱🗿

This UNESCO World Heritage site was found in the middle of the jungle after the Mayans abandoned it by the end of the 10th century (likely due to famines). The plants and wildlife that grew around and on top of the ancient ruins is breathtaking (tucans, pumas, monkeys, coati, etc.). It is a huge area where many of the ruins are still hidden underneath the jungle and are being conserved (it was decided to not excavate all the ruins, but with modern X-ray technology they can be made visible).

Likely the city was called Yax Mutal in the Mayan days and was home for around up to a million people (!!) and a row of ancient Mayan rulers. The stories are known from scriptures in the pillars in front of the temples.

The architecture goes back to the Mayan sacred numbers of 1 3 5 7 9 13 & 20 and their multiples (e.g. the amount of building, pillars or stairs), which they derived from the human body or from astrology. Also buildings were built in groups and resemble positive (upper world) and negative (underworld) with their orientation to north and south (they always balance out in groups) ☯️.

The Mayas knew a lot about astrology, so they were able to build a temple precisely at the location where the sun sets at Sept 22 right above it, when day and night are equally long. To its sides the sun sets respectively at the longest and the shortest days of the year. 🌞 The Maya calendar consists of 18 ‘months’ with each 20 days (one month with only 5 days), so total 365 days as we know it.

Just impressive!En savoir plus