Please click on yellow arrows to view photos of this marvelous city
From the map, one can see that Copán is oriented along a ceremonial north-south axis. To the north (left side of map) is a grandiose ampitheater enclosed on three sides by grandstands and by a small radial pyramid to the south. This great plaza, constructed by the flamboyant 13th ruler of Copán, Waxaklahun-Ubah K'awiil, is populated by altars and stelae which portray him confronting supernatural forces at every period-ending date of his long reign.
A ballcourt, where deep myths of a primordial ballgame between the forces of death and fertility were reenacted, separates this area from the acropolis, which rises to the south on the backs of giant Temple 11 and Temple 26. The hieroglyphic staircase of Temple 26 documents in stone the dynastic history of the ruling line.
The acropolis was a restricted access area distinct from the public areas to the north. However it was provided with platforms for the teaching and performance of sacred dance and other rituals which could be viewed from the public areas below.
Dividing the acropolis into east and west segments is the ceremonial heart of Copán, Temple 16. Buried deep within this pyramid is the tomb of Copán's dynastic founder, Yax Kuk Mo'. In front of the grand stairway of Temple 16 on the west is Altar Q, which portrays all 16 rulers of the dynasty in succession, with the founder presenting the 16th and last ruler, Yax Pasah, with the emblems of office.
At the eastern boundary of the acropolis, the Copán River gnaws away at the eastern edge of the city, exposing millenia of the more ancient constructions underlying and supporting the construction on the upper layers.
Please click on the yellow arrows in the map to view photos of this marvelous city.
From the Maudslay Collection, British Museum. Used with permission under the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 non-commercial license. ©The Trustees of the British Museum.
Tatiana Proskouriakoff, an epigrapher renowned for her reconstructive architectural drawings of Maya structures, observed:
"From the map one can see that Copán is far to the southeast of the center of the Maya Old Empire. In the country beyond there are no other large cities with vaulted buildings and sculptured monuments.
Yet there is about it nothing of the character of a frontier city. There are no fortifications to indicate that its relations with neighbors to the south and east were anything but friendly, and there is little in its art which suggests foreign influences.
If anything, the art of Copán surpasses that of the Petén and is strikingly individual, as if the city were itself the nucleus of a cultural subdivision of the Old Empire.
In most Petén cities architectural decoration was executed in stucco, and sculpture is largely confined to stelae and altars, whereas at Copán stone carvings, often in full round, adorned every important building.
As if jealous of this superb creation of man, all the most violent forces of nature seem to have conspired to destroy it. Even in historic times, earthquakes have shaken the ruins, and now the beautifully carved fragments of its buildings lie scattered on the slopes of its pyramids like the pieces of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle in stone.
The Copán River has wantonly changed its course to gnaw at the east side of the Acropolis.
It has devoured entire several buildings and has washed away thousands of tons of stone, leaving exposed a vertical cut a hundred and eighty-five feet in height.
Seen thus in section, ancient plaza floors and the remains of partially dismantled walls, covered by layer upon layer of later construction, testify to untold centuries of human effort."
Tatiana Proskouriakoff, An Album of Maya Architecture, p. 31