At a time when the Great Roman Empire was gaining strength in Europe and the legions of Julius Caesar were leaving to conquer Gaul and Britain, on the other side of the Earth, in the New World, one of the greatest cultures pre-Columbian America - Maya civilization. Having existed for more than a thousand years, creating brilliant examples of architecture, painting and sculpture, this civilization, having experienced its heyday in the 6th-8th centuries, fell under the blows of the conquerors from the north - the Toltecs. The white-stone cities of the Maya were abandoned and overgrown with selva for many centuries. And only one hundred and fifty years ago, this Atlantis of ancient America, swallowed up by the ocean of tropical forests, began to gradually lift the veil of its secrets ...

Travelers one by one discovered the lost cities of the Maya in the wilds of the Yucatan. Following the time of the pioneers, the time of scientists came - archaeologists, historians, ethnographers, art critics became regular guests of the ancient cities. But what could these ruins tell about, from which life has long gone?

Palenque. Temple of the Inscriptions

“The city was uninhabited. Among the ancient ruins, no traces of the disappeared people have survived, with their traditions passed down from father to son and from generation to generation. He lay before us like a ship wrecked in the middle of the ocean. Its masts broke, the name was erased, the crew died. And no one can say where he came from, who he belonged to, how long his journey lasted and what caused his death, ”wrote John Lloyd Stephens, the discoverer of Maya cities.

One of these “lost ships” is Palenque, an ancient city located in the northern part of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The spurs of the Chiapas Mountains form here a natural plateau about 70 m high. On this plateau, Palenque was built in the 7th century - Nachan, the “Serpent City” of the Maya.

The heyday of the city fell on the 7th-8th centuries. At this time, several temples are being built here, distinguished by special grace and perfection. BUT special place Among the ancient monuments of Palenque is the legendary Temple of the Inscriptions.

The Temple of the Inscriptions, which amazed its discoverers J. L. Stephens and F. Catherwood with its grandeur, is part of the ensemble of the palace of the rulers of Palenque. In clear weather, the white-stone pyramid of the temple is visible from the plain for many kilometers. The Temple of the Inscriptions got its name from Stephens and Catherwood - they named it so because of the abundance of hieroglyphic inscriptions on the walls, stairs, and sculptural columns. Among these inscriptions, researchers have found several dates, one of which is 692.

The clean and harmonious lines of the temple exude special sophistication. It is an elongated nine-stage pyramid 28 m high. The pyramid is largely carved into the rocky soil of a natural hill, and the rear part of the structure rests on its steep slope. Nine tiers of the pyramid are cut through by a multi-stage staircase - there are more than seventy steps in it. The stairs lead to the upper platform, on which the sanctuary is located - a rectangular structure of three rooms, securely resting on the top of a powerful pyramid. The facade of the temple is cut by five wide window openings. The building is crowned with a high, slightly concave roof, somewhat reminiscent of the roofs of Chinese pagodas.

The walls and columns of the temple are decorated with bas-reliefs, which have no analogues in any other Mayan city: they depict women holding incredibly ugly children in their arms. The face of each child is covered with a mask of the god of rain, and snakes crawl out of the children's legs. In Mayan mythology, the snake is associated with the sky, with heavenly water - rain.

In the central room of the sanctuary, three large gray slabs are embedded in the western wall, on which 620 hieroglyphs are carved in rows, like pieces on a chessboard - this is the longest known Maya inscription. A steep stone staircase leads down to the left. There, in the depths of the pyramid, one of the largest discoveries in the history of the study of the Maya civilization was made ...

Initially, there was an opinion among scientists that the pyramids in cities served only as high pedestals for sanctuaries. But in the last half century, under the foundations and in the thickness of such pyramids, it was possible to discover magnificent tombs of kings and members of the ruling dynasties. For the first time this discovery, which became a sensation, was made in 1952 by the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Rus-Luillier in the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque.

When clearing the ruins of the Temple of the Inscriptions, A. Rous-Luillier discovered a hidden staircase under the base of the sanctuary at the top of the pyramid, leading to an absolutely untouched royal tomb. At the entrance to it, in a stone box, lay the skeletons of five young men and a girl who apparently died a violent death. The artificially deformed frontal part of the skull and traces of inlay on the teeth spoke of their noble origin. These young men, from the best families of the city, were obviously sacrificed on some important and especially solemn occasion - probably at the burial of the ruler of Palenque, one of the most revered representatives of the ruling dynasty.

The burial chamber was a spacious room - 9 m long and 4 m wide. The high ceiling of the tomb went up, and its vaults were lost in the darkness, which the weak light of the lanterns could not dispel in any way. It was “a huge room, as if carved in ice,” wrote A. Rus-Luillier, “a kind of grotto, the walls and ceiling of which looked like polished, or an abandoned chapel, the dome of which was draped with curtains of stalactites, and thick stalagmites sticking out of the floor resembling candle stubs.

On the walls of the crypt, through a curtain of stalactites and stalagmites that have grown over the centuries, the outlines of nine human figures dressed in identical magnificent costumes were visible: a headdress made of quetzal bird feathers, a fancy mask, a cloak of feathers and jade plates, a loincloth, a belt with ornaments in the form of human heads, leather strap sandals. The neck, chest, hands, ankles are decorated with precious necklaces and bracelets. All figures have a scepter with a handle in the form of a snake's head and a round shield with the face of the sun god. A. Rus-Luillier suggested that these figures are images of the nine Lords of the World, in Maya mythology - the rulers of nine underworlds, nine tiers of the kingdom of death. On the floor were two alabaster heads, once broken off from large statues made almost to a human height. Probably, these "severed heads" imitated human sacrifices. In the center of the tomb stood a large stone sarcophagus. The carved stone supports of the sarcophagus seem to grow out of the ground and are made in the form of fairy-tale characters in rich clothes. They are entwined with plant branches hung with cocoa, pumpkin and guava fruits.

The sarcophagus was closed with a rectangular slab 3.8–2.2 m thick, completely covered with fine carvings. This slab is one of the most outstanding pieces of Mayan art. According to the highest technique of execution, it is compared with the works of European masters of the Renaissance.

The slab depicts a deeply symbolic scene that concisely outlines Maya mythology in the language of images. At the bottom of the slab there is a terrible mask, with all its appearance speaking of death: huge empty eye sockets, a face bare to the bones, huge fangs. This is the deity of the earth. The Indians of pre-Columbian America considered him a terrible monster that feeds on living creatures - after all, all living things eventually go into the ground ...

The monster's head is crowned with four objects: a shell and a sign resembling our "percentage" ("%") - symbols of death. The other two signs - grain and maize cob, on the contrary, are symbols of life. Shoots of a fantastic plant come out of the monster's mouth. They wrap around the figure of a young man sitting on the mask of the terrible god of the earth. Above him was a huge cross. This symbol was well known to the ancient Maya and meant the "source of life" - a sprout of maize. On the crossbar of the "source of life" a snake with two heads wriggles. Their mouths are wide open and little men in masks of the god of rain peep out of them. Recall that in Mayan mythology, the image of a snake is also associated with rain.

At the top of the cross sits the sacred quetzal bird. Her feathers served as decoration for the headdresses of kings and priests. The bird is also wearing the mask of the rain god. Below it are symbols of water and two shields with symbols of the sun god.

The complex symbolism of this image has not been completely unraveled, but the general meaning of the composition is the agrarian incantatory symbolism traditional for early agricultural cultures: sun - water - life - death. The eternal cycle of life in nature ...

When, with the help of jacks and logs, archaeologists lifted a slab weighing almost five tons, under it was another stone slab with a strange notch resembling a fish or a jug with a wide neck. This recess was tightly closed by a special cover of exactly the same shape. And under this second slab lay the skeleton of a tall (1 m 73 cm) man, 40-50 years old, heavily sprinkled with purple paint, barely visible under a solid carpet of jewelry made of greenish-blue jade and jasper - a diadem, earrings, several necklaces, a badge, bracelets , rings. The skull of the buried was broken, and the face was covered with a mosaic jade mask with eyes made of shells and pupils of obsidian. The mask, apparently, was an exact portrait of the deceased.

Who was this person? Numerous attributes of power found in the tomb - a scepter, a mask, a shield with the image of the sun god - indicate that this is a "halach vinik", the supreme ruler of Palenque, deified during his lifetime. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the side faces of the tombstone have several poorly distinguishable calendar dates corresponding to the middle of the 7th century. Probably, it was then that the “halach vinik” was buried with extraordinary splendor in the Temple of the Inscriptions. And above his sarcophagus, a stone slab was installed, on which an ancient tale of death and rebirth was carved by unknown carvers ...

Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque

At a time when the Great Roman Empire was gaining strength in Europe and the legions of Julius Caesar were leaving to conquer Gaul and Britain, on the other side of the Earth, in the New World, one of the greatest cultures of pre-Columbian America appeared - the Mayan civilization. Having existed for more than a thousand years, creating brilliant examples of architecture, painting and sculpture, this civilization, having experienced its heyday in the 6th-8th centuries, fell under the blows of the conquerors from the north - the Toltecs. The white-stone cities of the Maya were abandoned and overgrown with selva for many centuries. And only one hundred and fifty years ago, this Atlantis of ancient America, swallowed up by the ocean of tropical forests, began to gradually lift the veil of its secrets ...

Travelers one by one discovered the lost cities of the Maya in the wilds of the Yucatan. Following the time of the pioneers, the time of scientists came - archaeologists, historians, ethnographers, art critics became regular guests of the ancient cities. But what could these ruins tell about, from which life has long gone?

Palenque. Temple of the Inscriptions

“The city was uninhabited. Among the ancient ruins, no traces of the disappeared people have survived, with their traditions passed down from father to son and from generation to generation. He lay before us like a ship wrecked in the middle of the ocean. Its masts broke, the name was erased, the crew died. And no one can say where he came from, to whom he belonged, how long his journey lasted and what caused his death, ”

Maya explorer John Lloyd Stephens wrote.

One of these “lost ships” is Palenque, an ancient city located in the northern part of the Mexican state of Chiapas. The spurs of the Chiapas Mountains form here a natural plateau about 70 m high. On this plateau, Palenque was built in the 7th century - Nachan, the “Serpent City” of the Maya.

The heyday of the city fell on the 7th-8th centuries. At this time, several temples are being built here, distinguished by special grace and perfection. And a special place among the ancient monuments of Palenque is occupied by the legendary Temple of the Inscriptions.

The Temple of the Inscriptions, which amazed its discoverers J. L. Stephens and F. Catherwood with its grandeur, is part of the ensemble of the palace of the rulers of Palenque. In clear weather, the white-stone pyramid of the temple is visible from the plain for many kilometers. The Temple of the Inscriptions got its name from Stephens and Catherwood - they named it so because of the abundance of hieroglyphic inscriptions on the walls, stairs, and sculptural columns. Among these inscriptions, researchers have found several dates, one of which is 692.

The clean and harmonious lines of the temple exude special sophistication. It is an elongated nine-stage pyramid 28 m high. The pyramid is largely carved into the rocky soil of a natural hill, and the rear part of the structure rests on its steep slope. Nine tiers of the pyramid are cut through by a multi-stage staircase - there are more than seventy steps in it. The stairs lead to the upper platform, on which the sanctuary is located - a rectangular structure of three rooms, securely resting on the top of a powerful pyramid. The facade of the temple is cut by five wide window openings. The building is crowned with a high, slightly concave roof, somewhat reminiscent of the roofs of Chinese pagodas.

The walls and columns of the temple are decorated with bas-reliefs, which have no analogues in any other Mayan city: they depict women holding incredibly ugly children in their arms. The face of each child is covered with a mask of the god of rain, and snakes crawl out of the children's legs. In Mayan mythology, the snake is associated with the sky, with heavenly water - rain.

In the central room of the sanctuary, three large gray slabs are embedded in the western wall, on which 620 hieroglyphs are carved in rows, like pieces on a chessboard - this is the longest known Maya inscription. A steep stone staircase leads down to the left. There, in the depths of the pyramid, one of the largest discoveries in the history of the study of the Maya civilization was made ...

Initially, there was an opinion among scientists that the pyramids in cities served only as high pedestals for sanctuaries. But in the last half century, under the foundations and in the thickness of such pyramids, it was possible to discover magnificent tombs of kings and members of the ruling dynasties. For the first time this discovery, which became a sensation, was made in 1952 by the Mexican archaeologist Alberto Rus-Luillier in the Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque.

When clearing the ruins of the Temple of the Inscriptions, A. Rous-Luillier discovered a hidden staircase under the base of the sanctuary at the top of the pyramid, leading to an absolutely untouched royal tomb. At the entrance to it, in a stone box, lay the skeletons of five young men and a girl who apparently died a violent death. The artificially deformed frontal part of the skull and traces of inlay on the teeth spoke of their noble origin. These young men, from the best families of the city, were obviously sacrificed on some important and especially solemn occasion - probably at the burial of the ruler of Palenque, one of the most revered representatives of the ruling dynasty.

The burial chamber was a spacious room - 9 m long and 4 m wide. The high ceiling of the tomb went up, and its vaults were lost in the darkness, which the weak light of the lanterns could not dispel in any way. It was “a huge room, as if carved in ice,” wrote A. Rus-Luillier, “a kind of grotto, the walls and ceiling of which looked like polished, or an abandoned chapel, the dome of which was draped with curtains of stalactites, and thick stalagmites sticking out of the floor resembling candle stubs.

On the walls of the crypt, through a curtain of stalactites and stalagmites that have grown over the centuries, the outlines of nine human figures dressed in identical magnificent costumes were visible: a headdress made of quetzal bird feathers, a fancy mask, a cloak of feathers and jade plates, a loincloth, a belt with ornaments in the form of human heads, leather strap sandals. The neck, chest, hands, ankles are decorated with precious necklaces and bracelets. All figures have a scepter with a handle in the form of a snake's head and a round shield with the face of the sun god. A. Rus-Luillier suggested that these figures are images of the nine Lords of the World, in Maya mythology - the rulers of nine underworlds, nine tiers of the kingdom of death. On the floor were two alabaster heads, once broken off from large statues made almost to a human height. Probably, these "severed heads" imitated human sacrifices. In the center of the tomb stood a large stone sarcophagus. The carved stone supports of the sarcophagus seem to grow out of the ground and are made in the form of fairy-tale characters in rich clothes. They are entwined with plant branches hung with cocoa, pumpkin and guava fruits.

The sarcophagus was closed with a rectangular slab 3.8–2.2 m thick, completely covered with fine carvings. This slab is one of the most outstanding pieces of Mayan art. According to the highest technique of execution, it is compared with the works of European masters of the Renaissance.

The slab depicts a deeply symbolic scene that concisely outlines Maya mythology in the language of images. At the bottom of the slab there is a terrible mask, with all its appearance speaking of death: huge empty eye sockets, a face bare to the bones, huge fangs. This is the deity of the earth. The Indians of pre-Columbian America considered him a terrible monster that feeds on living creatures - after all, all living things eventually go into the ground ...

The monster's head is crowned with four objects: a shell and a sign resembling our "percentage" ("%") - symbols of death. The other two signs - grain and maize cob, on the contrary, are symbols of life. Shoots of a fantastic plant come out of the monster's mouth. They wrap around the figure of a young man sitting on the mask of the terrible god of the earth. Above him was a huge cross. This symbol was well known to the ancient Maya and meant the "source of life" - a sprout of maize. On the crossbar of the "source of life" a snake with two heads wriggles. Their mouths are wide open and little men in masks of the god of rain peep out of them. Recall that in Mayan mythology, the image of a snake is also associated with rain.

At the top of the cross sits the sacred quetzal bird. Her feathers served as decoration for the headdresses of kings and priests. The bird is also wearing the mask of the rain god. Below it are symbols of water and two shields with symbols of the sun god.

The complex symbolism of this image has not been completely unraveled, but the general meaning of the composition is the agrarian incantatory symbolism traditional for early agricultural cultures: sun - water - life - death. The eternal cycle of life in nature ...

When, with the help of jacks and logs, archaeologists lifted a slab weighing almost five tons, under it was another stone slab with a strange notch resembling a fish or a jug with a wide neck. This recess was tightly closed by a special cover of exactly the same shape. And under this second slab lay the skeleton of a tall (1 m 73 cm) man, 40-50 years old, heavily sprinkled with purple paint, barely visible under a solid carpet of jewelry made of greenish-blue jade and jasper - a diadem, earrings, several necklaces, a badge, bracelets , rings. The skull of the buried was broken, and the face was covered with a mosaic jade mask with eyes made of shells and pupils of obsidian. The mask, apparently, was an exact portrait of the deceased.

Who was this person? Numerous attributes of power found in the tomb - a scepter, a mask, a shield with the image of the sun god - indicate that this is a "halach vinik", the supreme ruler of Palenque, deified during his lifetime. Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the side faces of the tombstone have several poorly distinguishable calendar dates corresponding to the middle of the 7th century. Probably, it was then that the “halach vinik” was buried with extraordinary splendor in the Temple of the Inscriptions. And above his sarcophagus, a stone slab was installed, on which an ancient tale of death and rebirth was carved by unknown carvers ...

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7.1. The Great Temple of Sofia, the Small Temple of Sofia and the Temple of Irina The huge temple of Hagia Sophia standing in Istanbul today - in Turkish Ayasofia - is, firstly, not the most ancient main temple of the city. And secondly, it is more correct to call it the Great Church of Hagia Sophia, since

The city of Palenque - one of the centers of the Mayan civilization - was located at the foot of low hills covered with impenetrable selva. Here, in 1952, the American archaeologist Alberto Rus excavated the "Temple of the Inscriptions" and began to study it. Having overcome numerous obstacles, the archaeologist found a hidden entrance to a huge crypt in which one of the Mayan rulers was buried.

A. Rus himself later wrote about it this way: “Out of the thick darkness, a fabulous picture of a fantastic, unearthly world suddenly arose. It seemed that it was a magical grotto carved in ice. Its walls sparkled and shimmered like snow crystals in the rays of the sun. Like the fringe of a huge curtain, graceful festoons of stalactites hung. And the stalagmites on the floor looked like drops of water on a giant, swollen candle.

The tomb looked like an abandoned temple. Sculptural figures made of alabaster walked along its walls. Then my eyes fell to the floor. It was almost completely covered by a huge, perfectly preserved stone slab with relief images. Looking at all this with reverent amazement, I tried to describe the beauty of the spectacle to my colleagues. But they did not believe until, after pushing me away, they saw this magnificent picture with their own eyes.

The crypt found by archaeologists was 9 meters long, 4 meters wide, and its high vaulted ceiling went up almost 7 meters. The architecture of this underground tomb was so perfect that it has survived almost perfectly to this day. The stones of the walls and vaults were hewn and fitted together with such skill that none of them fell from their place.

On the walls of the tomb, through a bizarre curtain of stalactites and stalagmites, the outlines of nine large alabaster human figures appeared. People were “dressed” in the same magnificent costumes: a headdress made of long feathers of the quetzal bird, a cloak of feathers and jade plates, a loincloth with a belt (or skirt) decorated with three human heads, sandals made of leather straps. The neck, chest, hands and feet of these characters were studded with precious jewelry, and they proudly paraded the symbols and attributes of their high position: scepters with a handle in the form of a snake's head, masks of the rain god and round shields with the face of a solar deity. According to A. Rus, nine "lords of darkness" - the rulers of nine underground worlds - were depicted on the walls of the underground crypt.

At first, the archaeologist could not even understand what he dug up: an underground temple or a unique tomb? Most of the room was occupied by a huge stone box, covered with a carved stone slab. Was it an altar or the lid of a sarcophagus? On the side faces of the plate, a strip of hieroglyphic signs was visible, among which scientists discovered several calendar dates dating back to the 7th century according to the Mayan era.

On the flat surface of the slab, the scientist discovered a symbolic scene carved with an ancient master's chisel. At the bottom of this carving, you can see a terrible mask, which in its appearance is reminiscent of destruction and death: jaws and nose devoid of tissues and muscles, large fangs, huge empty eye sockets. Among the majority of the Indian peoples of pre-Columbian Mexico, this deity acted as a terrible monster that feeds on living creatures. Since all living things, dying, return to the earth, the terrible mask was a stylized image of the deity of the earth. His head was crowned with four objects, two of which among the Maya are symbols of death (a shell and a sign resembling%); the other two, on the contrary, are associated with birth and life (the grain of maize and the flower, or corncob).

On the mask of the monster, slightly leaning back, sits a handsome young man in rich clothes and precious jewelry. His body is entwined with a fantastic plant that comes out of the monster's mouth. The young man stares up at the cruciform object, personifying the "tree of life" among the ancient Maya, or, more precisely, the "source of life" - a stylized maize sprout.

On the crossbar of the "cross" the flexible body of a two-headed snake whirls intricately, and small funny men in masks of the god of rain look out of the mouths of these heads. According to the beliefs of the Mayan Indians, the snake has always been associated with the sky and heavenly rain: like snakes, clouds slide smoothly and silently across the sky, and lightning is nothing more than a “fiery snake”.

At the very top of the "cross" sits the sacred bird quetzal, whose long emerald feathers served as an adornment of the ceremonial headdresses of the kings and high priests of the Maya. Quetzal is also wearing a mask of the god of rain, and just below it are signs symbolizing water, and two small shields with the image solar god.

Here is such a complex rebus of carved paintings that was captured on the lid of the sarcophagus. After a thorough study of all the sources at his disposal, A. Rus gave the following interpretation: “A young man sitting on the mask of a monster of the earth probably simultaneously personifies a person who is destined to one day return to the bosom of the earth, and maize, grain which (to germinate) must first be buried in the ground. The “cross”, which a person looks at so intently, again symbolizes maize - a plant that appears on earth with the help of man and nature, to then serve as ... food for people. Closely connected with the idea of ​​the annual resurrection of maize among the Maya was the idea of ​​man's own resurrection.

And the Swiss E. Daniken, who is convinced of the communication of earthlings with aliens, expressed his point of view: in its crew, any current child will recognize the rocket. It is pointed in front, equipped with strangely curved protrusions, similar to suction nozzles, and then expands and ends in flames.

A man leaning forward with both hands wields a multitude of incomprehensible control devices, and with his left heel presses some kind of pedal. He is appropriately dressed: in short plaid trousers with a wide belt, in a jacket with a now fashionable Japanese collar and tight-fitting cuffs. Active is not only the pose of such a clearly depicted cosmonaut: in front of his face, some kind of device hangs, and he watches him closely and attentively.

Massive stone "legs" of the sarcophagus, in turn, were also decorated with relief images. Mythical characters in rich clothes seemed to "grow" out of the earth, depicted purely symbolically - a strip and a special hieroglyphic sign. And next to them are visible shoots of already real plants, hung with the fruits of cocoa, pumpkin and guava.

From the sarcophagus rose a long stone pipe, made in the form of a snake's body and ending in the central room of the temple. A. Rus called this pipe a “channel for the soul”, intended for spiritual communication between priests and living members of the royal family with their deceased ancestors. The staircase after the funeral rite was covered with fragments of stones, and between the tomb and the temple above there was only a magical connection through this "channel".

The size of the stone sarcophagus and its huge weight (20 tons) excluded its delivery down - along the narrow internal staircase - after the construction of the pyramid. The pyramid and the temple were most likely built over the finished tomb in order to protect it from destruction and hide it from uninvited eyes. But the tomb of the ruler, buried with countless treasures, was undoubtedly a very tempting prey for robbers, which is why it was so carefully hidden in the bowels of the pyramid, and the passage to it was densely packed with earth, rubble and stone blocks.

In the tomb itself, indeed, there were a lot of jewelry and jade products, and the most remarkable of them was the death mosaic mask that covered the face of the deceased ruler. His chest was decorated with jade necklaces, his fingers were studded with jade rings, large pieces of jade were placed in the palms of the deceased.

But the most amazing jewels adorned the head of the buried. A jade image of the god - a bat was suspended from a huge diadem. The plates of the earrings were inscribed with hieroglyphs, and in the mouth lay a shell, with which the deceased had (as some scholars suggest) to pay for his afterlife food. The face of the deceased was covered with a beautiful mosaic mask, composed of more than 240 pieces of jade, only obsidian and pieces of mother-of-pearl shells were used for the eyes.

Subsequently, scientists established that A. Rus opened the tomb of the ruler Pakal, who came to power at the age of 12 and died at the age of 80. “We were amazed by his height, which is higher than that of the average Maya Indian of today, and by the fact that his teeth were not filed or inlaid with pyrite and jade, as is typical of all noble Maya ... - wrote A. Rus. “In the end, we came to the conclusion that this person could be of non-Mayac origin, although it is clear that he ended his life in the rank of one of the rulers of Palenque.”

The discovery of A. Rus has already raised many questions for scientists, and the last phrase of the American scientist gave rise to a truly huge number of very different versions and hypotheses. The old problem began to be discussed again, and whether the ancestral home of the Maya is in Egypt, where there are similar pyramids, which also served as tombs. Some scholars have suggested that a European crossed the Atlantic long before Columbus, brought the light of higher culture to Maya land, and ruled Palenque as a deified monarch.

The ruins of Palenque are considered one of the most important Maya archaeological sites in Mexico. Its beautiful natural surroundings are beyond epithets. The ancient city is located among the forested hills, in the morning the ruins are often shrouded in thick fog, a small stream flows nearby, in the middle of the canopy of a dark green forest, large pyramids and temples grow. Sounds too good to be true, but that's the way it is. The combination of nature and ancient ruins gives this place a special aura. The Mexican government has given national park in 1981, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1987.

Palenque - the lost city of the Maya

During the cultural heyday, Palenque was much more beautiful, because the monuments were covered with decorative plaster, painted in blue hues. The existence of a city hidden deep in the jungle was not known until 1746. Even then, rediscovered, Palenque was lost several times, until, finally, the explorers John Lloyd Stevens and Frederick Catherwood finally presented this pearl of Mayan architecture to the world (1841).

A settlement on this site existed from 300 BC, but Palenque acquired the status of an important Mayan city in the classical period (300-900). Most of the surviving buildings were built between the 7th and 10th centuries, and he reached the pinnacle of power during the reign of Pakal and his son Chan-Bahlum (600 to 700).

Then the inhabitants left the city, and since this region of Mexico receives the most rainfall, the ruins quickly hid in the dense thickets of the jungle. Even the initial name of the city is lost, the surviving ruins have been current name from the nearby small town of Santo Domingo de Palenque. To date, about a third of the city has been excavated by archaeologists. Wandering between the ruins or viewing the park from the top of high-rise monuments, hills are visible everywhere. For the most part, these are not hills, but Mayan temples and pyramids hidden by thickets of the jungle.

The main advantage is not in its size or antiquity (many other archaeological monuments are larger and older). Its importance lies in its location (in the middle of the jungle), architecture atypical for the Maya, and epigraphy (inscriptions). Thanks to epigraphy, archaeologists have managed to restore many pages of the city's history.

Compared to, the less well-known Palenque has a calm atmosphere and less importunity of local residents trying to sell souvenirs to visiting tourists. In addition, tourists are not forbidden to climb most of the ancient pyramids. Plan to spend most of the day, then you can visit all the monuments, walk through the jungle, and spend some time in the museum. The best time to visit the ruins is early in the morning from the moment the park opens at 8 o'clock, when the pyramids are shrouded in mist against the backdrop of the jungle.

Palace of Palenque

Palenque differs from any other Mayan archaeological site not only in the wealth of relief images and carved decorations, but also in the interesting architecture of its palace. The palace is the largest building on the territory of the archaeological park, it is a complex of buildings built at different times, and divided into four parts by a labyrinth of corridors, residential and administrative premises.

At first it was believed that the palace served as the residence of rulers and clergy, later they came to the conclusion that it performed administrative functions. Political and military alliances with other Mayan city-states were concluded here, donations were made, it served as a place of entertainment, sacrifices, and ritual ceremonies.

The main feature of the palace is a four-story tower, which is not found in any other Mayan city. Thanks to this unique tower, the palace looks almost like a Chinese one. When archaeological research began, many ideas were put forward about what functions it performed. It is believed that from the height of the tower, the Mayans watched how the rays of the sun fall directly on the Temple of the Inscriptions on the day of the winter solstice.

Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque

The Temple of the Inscriptions (Templo de las Inscripciones) is one of the most famous pyramids in America and the highest monument in Palenque. The temple is named after stone tablets with inscriptions found here. Most of the stone tablets telling about family tree rulers of Palenque, are now in the National Anthropological Museum in Mexico City. Thanks to the texts and relief images discovered here, the Temple of the Inscriptions significantly helped in the study ancient culture Mayan.

Temple of the Inscriptions in Palenque- the only pyramid in Mexico, built specifically as a tomb. In 1952, Mexican archaeologist Alberto Rus moved a stone slab in the floor at the top of the pyramid and discovered a stone-filled passage leading down a long staircase. Thus, the tomb of Kinich Khanab Pakal, the famous ruler of Palenque, who ruled this city-state for 68 years (615-683), was discovered. This tomb is one of the most famous artifacts in the Mayan world. Rich decorations and sculptural images were found in it, but the stone sarcophagus, in which Pacal's remains lay untouched from the moment of burial, is of the greatest interest.

Unfortunately, Pacal's tomb is currently closed to the public to avoid further damage to its frescoes. While in Mexico City, you can see the jade death mask lid of the sarcophagus in the National Museum of Anthropology (see Mexico City Museums), but the massive stone sarcophagus still remains here.

Group of the Cross in Palenque

The Cross group consists of the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Leaf Cross and the Temple of the Cross, all of which are temple-topped pyramids topped with comb-shaped stone ornaments. The walls of each of the temples are covered with sculptural images of religious themes and texts in the Mayan language.

The images of the cross found on the walls of temples are not at all the cross familiar to us, but depict the tree of the world. The world tree was a common ornamental element among the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica, embodying the four cardinal points.

Museum of Palenque

Museum located 1.5 km before the entrance to the park, open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, its admission is included in the price of visiting the ruins. The museum is small, but interesting; exhibits discovered during archaeological excavations are exhibited here: jade jewelry, huge collection ceramic incense burners, several stone panels with inscriptions. The main exhibit of the museum is a life-sized copy of Pacal's sarcophagus, placed in an exact copy of the Plexiglas tomb. The museum has a gift shop.

Palenque has a number of other temples, pyramids, houses of the nobility, an aqueduct and an interesting stone bridge across the river.

The Mayan ruins are located about 7 km from the small town of Santo Domingo de Palenque. There are hotels, good cafes and restaurants, but visitors come here primarily to explore the famous ruins of the ancient Mayan city.

The Tourist Office is located near main square Santo Domingo de Palenque, on the corner of Avenida Juárez and Abasolo streets. It is open Monday to Saturday from 9 am to 9 pm, Sunday from 9 am to 1 pm.

The cheapest way to get there and back is by minibuses (colectivos), which run between the center of Santo Domingo de Palenque and the Mayan ruins every 10 minutes from morning to evening.

Between Santo Domingo de Palenque and the Mayan ruins is La Canada, a popular tourist area for hotels (located in the forest). On the way to the ruins, minibuses pass by La Canada, wave your hand and they will immediately stop.

Time has not left us the original name of the city. The conquistadors did not know about the existence of the majestic ruins for a long time, quite by accident, at the end of the 18th century, a military detachment discovered in the jungle a village called Santo Domingo del Palenque, and nearby - the mysterious remains of ancient buildings. The Spaniards began to call the ruins Palenque.

The Chol Oni Indians still live in the surrounding jungle, calling Palenque the "Stone House of Snakes", perhaps in the pre-Columbian era the city was called that.

Archaeologists have found out that Palenque was built more than two thousand years ago, it reached its greatest prosperity in the 6th-10th centuries. But later, the inhabitants left the city for an unknown reason, and it was swallowed up by the selva.

Video about Palenque

Attractions

Temple of the Inscriptions

Now Palenque has been cleared of the forest and restored, numerous tourists and lovers of secrets come to touch the archaeological monument of the Mayan culture. On the territory of the city, about one and a half thousand different buildings have been preserved - these are residential buildings, and complex technical structures: aqueducts, water supply and outflow devices, canals. These systems are considered the most advanced of all created by people in the pre-Columbian era. To date, only 34 structures have been well studied.

Inside the Temple of the Inscriptions

Among all the buildings of Palenque, the Temple of Inscriptions stands out, so named because of the abundance of hieroglyphs. Remains of expressive bas-reliefs are visible on the facades of the building. Slabs with the longest known Maya inscription, consisting of 620 relief hieroglyphs, are immured into the wall of the Temple. The temple stands on a 20-meter pyramid, and a staircase with 70 steps leads to its top.

Sarcophagus of Pacal the Great inside the pyramid

At the Temple of the Inscriptions, archaeologists have managed to make the largest and at the same time the most intriguing find in the history of Mayan study. When clearing the ruins, a secret staircase leading to the tomb was discovered. A stone sarcophagus with the mummy of the ruler of the city Pacal the Great is installed here. The sarcophagus is covered with a slab, recognized as the most outstanding achievement of the Maya culture - its surface is decorated with fine skillful carving, the technique of which is comparable to the work of Renaissance artists. It is striking that Pacal's body was mummified according to ancient Egyptian technology, and the tomb itself is similar to the Egyptian pyramid.

Recreated copy of the sarcophagus of Pacal the Great in the National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico City

But the most incredible was the drawing on the slab of the sarcophagus, in the deciphering of which, in addition to archaeologists, both ufologists and astronautics specialists participated. The slab bears a detailed image of a man in a space suit sitting in the seat of an aircraft that looks remarkably like a spaceship! The pilot's hands lie on the levers, and in front of him is a completely obvious control panel with numerous instruments. Until now, disputes about who and what is depicted on the slab of the sarcophagus have not subsided, this is one of the most amazing secrets of the Maya.

Castle

Near the Temple of the Inscriptions is the Palace - a complex of 12 buildings, which was previously the focus of urban life. The palace is crowned with a five-story tower with an observatory, where the ruler recognized the will of the gods by the stars. There is still a bench on which the priest-astronomer sat. The building is decorated with reliefs and images from the life of the nobility of Palenque. Human sacrifices were made on the steps of the palace to please the gods. Researchers are haunted by the fact that the staircase leading to the observatory starts only from the second floor of the tower. Why not from the first? And how did the priest and the ruler get to the second floor? For now, this remains a mystery.

In the vicinity of the Palace, three pyramids rise, on the tops of which were the main sanctuaries of Palenque - the Temple of the Cross, the Temple of the Leafy Cross and the Temple of the Sun with the image of the solar god Jaguar. These names are modern, they are based on deciphered plots of altar plates.

Behind the palace, a ball court, traditional for Maya cities, was preserved, which was given ritual significance. The losers often lost their lives.

Worthy of attention is the Temple of the Jaguar, the Temple of Skulls, aqueducts, a stone bridge, residential buildings, pyramids. All buildings are covered with unusual geometric ornaments. The vast majority of buildings are available to tourists for inspection.

Palenque amazes with its uniqueness and ingenuity of the Maya - how did they manage to build such monumental structures in the hard-to-reach selva? How did they bring the huge stones here?

Having visited this place, you will be impressed by its enchanting atmosphere for a long time - Palenque stands on the floodplain of the river, surrounded by tropical forests, in which the sounds of macao parrots and howler monkeys are heard.

Useful information

• The archaeological zone is open daily from 08.00 to 17.00, visitors are allowed until 16.30. Upon entering the office of the Informacion de Turustica, take the map of the complex, on which all the buildings are marked.
• A ticket to see the ruins costs $4. For video filming in Palenque, you have to pay an additional $ 3.
• One and a half kilometers from the ruins of Palenque there is a museum, a visit to which is included in the ticket price. Here is a copy of the lid of Pacal's sarcophagus, the original is kept in the Mexico City Museum. In the shop near the museum you can buy souvenirs and products in the "Mayan style".
• From Santo Domingo del Palenque every 10 minutes there is a minibus to the ruins, which are only 7 kilometers from here, the ticket costs a little more than a dollar. There are buses from other cities to Santo Domingo del Palenque
• Mexico - Merida, Mexico City, Cancun. The nearest airport is Villahermosa, two hours away by car.
• In the vicinity of Palenque, you can see other attractions: the beautiful waterfalls of Misol-Ha and Agua Azul, the ruins of Tonina, Bonampak and Yaxchilan. In the rainy season (from May to October) it is better not to go to the waterfalls - a dangerously strong current, but the water is dirty and muddy, swimming will not bring pleasure.
• Be sure to bring a raincoat, mosquito repellent and a hat.
• There are hotels in Santo Domingo del Palenque, you can find quite budget options.