Mayan ruins of Copan (Ruinas de Copan) description and photos - Honduras: Copan Ruinas (Topic)

Ruins of the Mayan city of Copan (Ruinas de Copan) description and photos - Honduras: Copan Ruinas. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Ruinas de Copan.

Photo and description

Copan is an ancient Mayan city that reached its zenith in the classical period between 426 and 820. ad. The archaeological park is just 1 km away. to the west of the city in the middle of the forest, bordered by a river, can be reached by taxi or on foot. The entrance to the reserve is through a long alley along the embankment, which leads to the Great Square in the center, a pyramid and several high steles. Most of the hieroglyphs, sculptures, steles and altars belong to the classical period.

There is a monument here that tells the history of the Copan settlement. It's called the 'hieroglyphic ladder' - This is the largest stylized text in all of America, which lists the 12 first kings of Copan and describes their deeds. Initially, the pyramid consisted of almost a quarter of a million stone blocks with carved hieroglyphic inscriptions, today it is in a good state of preservation.

To the right of the main square, on a hill, there are many acropolis of traditional pyramidal structures with a large number of stairs. Here and there human figures, animals are carved, there are steles, altars and sculptures of deities. In the courtyard of the west wing, you can see the Altar "Q" - a stone block of regular square shape with the names and figures of the 16 kings of Copan, 4 on each side.

The most notable structure - the Rosalila temple - is so named because of its specific coloring, it is also known as the Temple of the Sun. A special feature of Rosalila is that he was completely buried under another pyramidal structure of stone and plaster, therefore it has remained almost intact to this day.

Archaeologists have discovered that the buildings, steles and altars were all used together as large sundials.

There is a small village near Copan, intended to create the infrastructure of the reserve. It houses hotels and restaurants, as well as some travel agencies that organize trips to Copan. In addition to exploring the Mayan ruins, eco-tours through the jungle, observing local fauna, horseback riding or biking are offered. The Archaeological Park is open every day from 8 am to 4 pm, ticket prices vary depending on the volume of the tour.

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Topic: Mayan ruins of Copan (Ruinas de Copan) description and photos - Honduras: Copan Ruinas.