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Located
in El Peten just a few hours through the jungle from Belize,
Tikal is the most impressive and magnificent Mayan ruin in Central
America. Believed to have been one of the most powerful cities in the
ancient Mayan world, Tikal
was inhabited between roughly 800 B.C. and 900 A.D., and was
home to 100,000 people at its height.
Today, a
wildlife preserve covering 220 square miles of lush rainforest
surrounds the ruins, and visitors commonly see monkeys and
several species of tropical birds that inhabit the trees around
the ancient city.
The ruins are 66 kilometers from Flores on paved roads.
It is recommended that you take at least 2 days
to see the ruins.
The
city and surrounding areas are believed to have spanned
an area of 23 square miles.
The
temples are mainly constructed out of limestone, which was very important
for construction because it also provided lime for stucco and plaster.
Pyramids represent the sacred mountains where it was
believed that maize came from. The temples used to be covered in rich color patterns
and some temples were even painted completely red.
The
east plaza was the main plaza in the Classic era, although today the
Great Plaza is the center of the site.
Seventy stelae, originally painted red, have been located
around this ruin. These
stelae, each of which once had an altar beside it, commemorate the
rulers of Tikal, and their faces can still be seen today carved on
one side of the large stone monuments.
The nearby Temple of the Giant Jaguar
is a 100-foot high pyramid concealing the tomb of Ahau Cacau,
the divine ruler of Tikal. Other noteworthy temples and plazas: the Temple of the
Masks, Temple of the Jaguar Priest, the North Acropolis,
and to the south of the great plaza complex, the Central Acropolis.
Here there are 42 palaces, all excellent examples of
Mayan architecture.
The
Great Plaza, the East Plaza, and the Plaza of the Seven Temples
all have ball courts. In
the Plaza of the Lost World, pyramid 5C-54 is one of the oldest
pyramids with a core which is believed to have been built around 500
B.C. Southeast of Group
G is a causeway that leads to the Temple of the Inscriptions,
completed around 750 A.D.
An
official
expedition to Tikal was not made until 1848, although
the locals probably knew about the site for years.
It was declared a national park and countless other
archaeological studies have been carried out.
attractions
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Tikal
ruins
-
Flores,
on a small island on Lake Peten Itza and itself the last
Mayan stronghold to withstand the Spanish
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Birding
and wildlife
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Guatemalan
life
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El
Peten, in which the whole area is located, a sparsely
populated region representing a third of the country and
rich in flora, fauna, and Mayan ruins
-
Mayan
ruins of Dos Pilas, Aguateca, Ceibal, Petexbatun
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