The Castillo (or castle in Spanish) is the monument that people think of when they think of Chichén Itzá. It is mostly Toltec construction, and it probably dates to the period of the first combination of cultures in the 9th century AD at Chichén. El Castillo is centrally located on the south edge of the Great Plaza. The pyramid is 30 meters high and 55 meters on a side, and it was built with nine succeeding platforms with four staircases. The staircases have balustrades with carved feathered serpents, the open-jawed head at the foot and the rattle held high at the top. The last remodel of this monument included one of the fanciest jaguar thrones known from such sites, with red paint and jade insets for eyes and spots on the coat, and flaked chert fangs. The principal stairway and entrance is on the north side, and the central sanctuary is surrounded by a gallery with the main portico.
Information about the solar, Toltec, and Maya calendars is carefully built into el Castillo. Each stairway has exactly 91 steps, times four is 364 plus the top platform equals 365, the days in the solar calendar. The pyramid has 52 panels in the nine terraces; 52 is the number of years in the Toltec cycle. Each of the nine terraced steps are divided in two: 18 for the months in the yearly Maya calendar. Most impressively, though, is not the numbers game, but the fact that on the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, the sun shining on the platform edges forms shadows on the balustrades of the north face that look like a writhing rattle snake.
Archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett described el Castillo as a design "of exceptionally high order, indicating great progress in architecture." That most zealous of Spanish friar zealots Bishop Landa reported that the structure was called Kukulcan, or 'feathered serpent' pyramid, as if we needed to be told twice.
The amazing equinoctial display at el Castillo (where the snake wriggles on the balustrades) was video-taped during Spring Equinox 2005 by Isabelle Hawkins and the Exploratorium. The videocast is in both Spanish and English versions, and the show lasts a good hour waiting for the clouds to part, but holy cow! is it worth watching.
Information about the solar, Toltec, and Maya calendars is carefully built into el Castillo. Each stairway has exactly 91 steps, times four is 364 plus the top platform equals 365, the days in the solar calendar. The pyramid has 52 panels in the nine terraces; 52 is the number of years in the Toltec cycle. Each of the nine terraced steps are divided in two: 18 for the months in the yearly Maya calendar. Most impressively, though, is not the numbers game, but the fact that on the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, the sun shining on the platform edges forms shadows on the balustrades of the north face that look like a writhing rattle snake.
Archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett described el Castillo as a design "of exceptionally high order, indicating great progress in architecture." That most zealous of Spanish friar zealots Bishop Landa reported that the structure was called Kukulcan, or 'feathered serpent' pyramid, as if we needed to be told twice.
The amazing equinoctial display at el Castillo (where the snake wriggles on the balustrades) was video-taped during Spring Equinox 2005 by Isabelle Hawkins and the Exploratorium. The videocast is in both Spanish and English versions, and the show lasts a good hour waiting for the clouds to part, but holy cow! is it worth watching.
