MYSTIC PLACES
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For a thousand years, the slanting rays of the setting sun have
played a spectacular shadow and light game with this great Mayan pyramid.
During the equinoxes, at the appointed hour, the shadow of the Feathered
Serpent, Kukulcan appears on the northern stairway...and vanishes.
Don't miss: Geometry
of the sunset at Chichen Itza on the Vernal Equinox
Chichen Itza - El Castillo
- 3D Model
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Chichen Itza¡ - Introduction
| HISTORY | Architecture | Design and Dimensions |
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Decoding Kukulkan's Longitude
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Precessional Alarm Clock |
The Shadow of the Equinox|
Chirping Pyramid |
Kukulcán - The Legend of Quetzalcóatl | Celestial Alignments | Khufu and Kukulcan
CHICHEN
ITZA - More Photos, 3-D MODEL
| Chichen Itza Main Menu | Resources
The Temple of Kukulcan
3D Model
We have created an accurate computer model of "El
Castillo" which allows to observe
the shadow on the northern stairway for any day (and time) of the year.
Please view few snapshots of our model showing light and shadow on March 21.
Do not miss the equinox light and shadow animation below on this page. |
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EL CASTILLO - The Temple of Kukulcan, Chichén Itzá, Mexico
The Mayans succeeded in an almost impossible mission with the
completion of their structures at Chichén Itzá. A poetic combination of form,
style, function, religion, philosophy, mathematics and geometry. A true
symbiosis of all of their intelligence and art in one location, to be studied
and
admired by all that visit.
By far the most impressive structure of the complex is
the "Pyramid of Kukulcan" * (usually called
"El Castillo"). This is a square-based, stepped pyramid approximately 30
meters tall (with the temple on top),
constructed by the Mayans ca 1000-1200 AD, directly upon the multiple
foundations of previous temples. It was mysteriously abandoned along with the
surrounding city of Chichen Itza by
1400 AD.
* Kukulcan is the Mayan name for the Feathered
Serpent God (also known as Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs).
The pyramid has special astronomical significance and layout.
Each face of the pyramid has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together
with the shared step of the platform at the top, add up to 365, the number of
days in a year. These stairways also divide the nine terraces of each side of
the pyramid into eighteen segments, representing the eighteen months of the
Mayan calendar.
The pyramid's design reflects the equinoxes and
solstices of our solar year in a spectacular game of light and shadow. During
the equinoxes, the setting sun casts a shadow of a serpent on the northern
steps of the pyramid.
For a thousand years, the slanting rays of the setting sun
have played a spectacular shadow and light game with this great Mayan pyramid.
During the equinoxes, at the appointed hour, the shadow of the Feathered
Serpent, Kukulcan appears on the northern stairway...and vanishes.
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