Palenque Tours – Chiapas, Mexico

Palenque
Palenque

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About this place

Palenque are ruins of a Maya site in Chiapas, Mexico which date back to the 3th century. This site lived the most glorious era between 500 and 700 AD.  Today, Palenque enjoys the status of a National Park. The nearest village is Santo Domingo de Palenque. On an area of about 2.2 square km there were about 1500 structures built by that famous civilization.

It is thought that the original Mayan name of the city was Lakamha´ which means Big Water. This site is especially attractive because of unique decorations used in their architecture. Thanks to hieroglyphic inscriptions, scientists managed to draw some conclusions regarding the lifestyle and customs of the period.

Palenque is an entire complex and one of the first things a visitor can see is the Skull Temple which is called that way because of the skull relief.

Later on, visitors can see tombs and one of the most visited ones is in the Temple XIII. This tomb is called Red Lady's Burial because the woman who was found buried there had about 40 years of age at the time of death and the  tomb was adorned by red color and covered in cinnabar. Her body was also surrounded by other items such as jade, gods,, food and drinks because according to the Mayan beliefs this custom prevented from going to the underworld.

Between the Skull Temple and the Temple of the Inscriptions stands the Grand Palace and its tower. It is in fact in the center. Grand Palace is a complex built in different periods and connected.

Step pyramids make Mayan sites so recognizable. In Palenque the eight step pyramid is called the Temple of the Inscriptions. Within the Temple there is the tomb of one of the most famous Mayan ruler called Pakal. The entire temple is decorated with beautiful reliefs.

The site has several other temples such as the Temple of the Cross, Temple of the Foliated Cross, Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Jaguar…

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