Athena Review Image Archive ™
Chichén Itzá: Plan of the Castillo by Landa (1566)
Plan of the Castillo at Chichén Itzá by Fray Diego de Landa (Relación, 1566)
Fray Diego de Landa, in his Relación de las cosas de Yucatán
written in the1560s, provided a sketch plan of the Castillo showing its
orientation to east (oriente) and west (poniente), and an outline of
the temple structure on top. He describes it as a steep and formidable
mound:
“This structure has four stairways looking to the four
directions of the world, and 33 ft. wide, with 91 steps to each that
are killing to climb....When I saw it there was at the foot of each
side of the stairway the fierce mouth of a serpent, curiously worked
from a single stone.” The stone serpent sculptures remain in place at
the bottom of the main (north) staircase.
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