This volume retraces the development and magnificent flowering of Mayan architecture in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize over the period 300 B.C.-A.D. 1500. Tikal, the earliest Mayan religious centre, Palenque, famous for its ceremonial centre, and Copan with its hieroglyphic staircase featuring 2 500 glyphs are among the cities featured, along with Chichen Itza and its ball court, and Bonampak and its frescoes. These astounding creations testify to the knowledge and refinement of the most advanced of the pre-Columbian civilizations.

This volume retraces the development and magnificent flowering of Mayan architecture in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize over the period 300 B.C.-A.D. 1500. Tikal, the earliest Mayan religious centre, Palenque, famous for its ceremonial centre, and Copan with its hieroglyphic staircase featuring 2 500 glyphs are among the cities featured, along with Chichen Itza and its ball court, and Bonampak and its frescoes. These astounding creations testify to the knowledge and refinement of the most advanced of the pre-Columbian civilizations.

INTRODUCTION

The Maya enter History

THE ARCHITECTURAL LANGUAGE

OF THE MAYA

Laws and Techniques of the Builders

THE GREAT CLASSIC CITIES

Tikal - a Jungle Metropolis

THE GOLDEN AGE OF PALENQUE

Flourishing of the Arts in Chiapas

A NEGLECTED CHAPTER OF MAYA ART

The Rio Bec and Chenes Styles

THE PUUC STYLE IN YUCATAN

The Splendour of Uxmal's Palaces

THE DIVERSITY OF THE YUCATEC CITIES

Palaces, Arches and Observatories

THE CONTRIBUTION OF MEXICO TO YUCATAN

Chichen Itza - Capital of the Toltec-Maya

CONCLUSION

Decline and Fall of the Maya Civilization

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND CREDITS