"Palenque, the most enigmatically moving of all Maya sites, has held its secrets for over twelve hundred years. The location is imbued with a quality that reaches out and draws one irresistibly. Enigmatic though it might be, its architecture sings out to us with a Mozartian sort of richness and classical elegance -- not mute like the heavier, more richly conservative architecture of most other Classic Maya sites. Originality and harmony shine out of the mellow Palenque limestone. The presence of it's builders is felt across the centuries by those who give themselves completely to the Palenque experience.
Princeton's Gillett Griffin, who wrote this emotional description, is an emotional person, but it is no exaggeration. For over two centuries the incomparable beauty of this Classic city, located on the western edge of the lowland Maya realm, has continued to inspire this kind of prose in its visitors."
Michael D. Coe, "Breaking the Maya Code", p. 193