| The Church
Chichén-Itzá
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| The older
part of the city of Chichén Itza has many fine examples
of the richly decorated Puuc architectural style. Among the
structures which are representative of this period are the
Church and the Annex of the Nunnary. |
In the older part of Chichén Itzá
we find a complex of buildings, one of which was named Eglesia
(Church), by the early Spanish visitors. The Church is one of
the most outstanding examples of Puuc ornamentation with elaborately
carved masks of Chaac, the Mayan rain god covering the front of
the structure.
On either side of the masks are smaller carvings
of a crab, a snail, an armadillo and a turtle which some researchers
say represent the forces which the Mayas believed supported the
sky in each of the four directions. 
Above these carvings is an image of a moving snake
and a roof with even more big-nosed masks of the rain god.
Chaac, the god of rain, was the guardian of the
Maya groups who lived on the Yucatan penninsula from around 600
A.D.. A giver of water, Chaac became the core of a civilization
that depended on agriculture for its existence. The engraving
of the masks evolved gradully from the beginning in other parts
of the Yucatan to the elaborate work on the monuments at Chichen
Itza.
When Stephens and Catherwood visited the site in
1843 they wrote:
| This building
is in a good state of preservation. The interior consists
of a single apartment, once covered with plaster, and along
the top of the wall are seen traces of a line ... which
once contained hieroglyphics. The Indians have no superstitious
feelings about these ruins, except in regard to this building:
they say that on Good Friday of every year music is heard.
But this illusion was destined to be broken. In this chamber
we opened our Daguerrotype apparatus, and on Good Friday
were at work all day, but heard no music.
(From Travels in the Yucatan, Stephens
& Catherwood pg. 220). |
[Based on Let's Learn about Chichén-Itzá
, Chichén-Itzá: The City of the Wise Men
of the Water. by Roman Chan, All About the Mayas.
by C. Dorese. published by Producción Editorial Dante (Mérida,
Mexico) and Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan by Stephens
and Catherwood published by Smithsonian Institute Press (Washington
D.C.). All available in paperback and highly recommended.]
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