Copán's Ruins

Copán's Ruins

Copán Ruins are an archeological site of an old civilization called Maya. This ruins are in the occidental part of the Country, in the department also called Copán. The word "Copan" comes from the word nahuatl "Copantl", whose meaning is "ponton" or "bridge"; This word was registred in the 16th century. From the 5th to 9th century this city was the most important capital in the clasical period. Probably the city was called by the Mayas OWITIK.

In 1980 Copan was declared word heritage by UNESCO!

Location
the archeological site is located in Honduras, nearby the border with Guatemala, in the municipality of Copan Ruinas in the department also called Copan. is ubicated bitween 2 hill in the fertile valley of 700 masl.

History

Copán became one of the more powerful Maya city states and was a regional power in the southern Maya region. It suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of its former vassal state Quirigua in 738; when the long-ruling king Uaxaclajuun Ub'aah K'awiil was captured and beheaded by Quirigua's ruler K'ak' Tiliw Chan Yopaat (Cauac Sky). Although this was a major setback, Copán's rulers began to build monumental structures again within a few decades

 Site Descripcion

The site of Copán is composed of several architectural ensembles. The main set and the set of the cemetery are at the core of the site and are connected with the whole of the graves by a sacbe. Northeast Center of Copán had a density of 1449 structures per square kilometer. To include the area around the Center, with an area of 24.6 km², this density dropped to 143 structures/km².

Copan is known for a series of stele with portraits, most of which were placed along processional ways in the city's central square and the Acropolis, a large complex with pyramids, plazas, and palaces. The site also boasts a long field for the mesoamericanball game .

 

The Park has six basic areas of primary interest:

The Ball Game: considered the social Center of the city. This ball game is without a doubt the most beautiful and artistic in Mesoamerica. Singular attractions are markers, shaped head of Macaw located on the inclined walls. The last modification and construction that occurred in this set was in the days of King 18 rabbits.

The Great Square: Famous for steles and altars that are decorating it. Most of the wakes in this square were consecrated during the reign of the tenth third King of Copán 18 rabbits between the years 711 and 736. Many of the altars are Zoomorphic shape.

The Hieroglyphic Stairway: This great temple contains the longest text that gave us the great Maya civilization. The time was erected during the reign No. 15, known as "Smoke spiral", and it is believed is a kind of family tree of the copan dynasty, founded by Yax-Kuk-Mo. The five statues located on the steps represent five Kings before smoke jaguar. Unfortunately it has not been possible to read the glyphs, since much of the bleachers had collapsed and to rebuild the temple, they were outside their original place creating a great "glyphs soup". This temple has a tent to protect their delicate glyphs of further erosion of the environment that has already damaged large part of them.

The Acropolis: divided in two large squareS, the East and the West. The East plaza contains the 11 Temple, built by the last King of Copán Yax-Pac, as his masterpiece. It is also in this square, the 16 Temple, with the famous altar "Q" in front of him.

The Altar "Q": it has been completely decoded, and today we know that it represents the 16 members of the great copan dynasty from Yax-Kuk-Mo to Yax Pac. An aspect of great interest of this temple is that for some reason the previous Temple was not disabled to build on, rather, they had a great care not to damage the previous Temple. The result is a jewel archaeological and unique in the world.

The Rosalila Temple: also known as Temple of the Sun. This temple opens a window to the past and allows us to determine how looked Copan before its fall around the year 22 of our era.

 

 

 

 

 

 The Museum of Sculpture

This museum is, without a doubt, one of the most impressive attractions that travelers found in the archaeological site of Copán. The entrance is amazing; a true journey into the maya underworld. It was designed to accommodate over 3,000 pieces of sculpture in 59 displays; the interior displays a series of sculptures that have been rescued from the archaeological site. The enormous building comprises around 4,000 square meters of construction on two levels (most of them are underground).

Its exhibits include the impressive scale replica natural of the Rosalila Temple, also known as Temple of the Sun, discovered under the 16 structure in perfect condition. It also houses the original Altar Q and the stelae A, P and 2.