Tikal, Temple II

Temple II as seen from the North Acropolis

Miguel Ángel Asturias, named Nobel Laureate in 1967, wrote "Only Guatemala is comparable to itself," describing it as "a land of natural dreamscapes...mysterious presences and absences."

Tikal, the largest known Mayan city, is incomparable in the same way; its size imposing and intimidating, its setting lush and teeming with wildlife, and with a mysterious and overwhelming atmosphere best described in the writing of Asturias:

"The imagination reels. There are reliefs, pyramids, temples in the extinguished city. The damp murmur of the arroyos, voices, crepitations of the intertangling vines, the sound of flapping wings, trickle into the immense sea of silence. Everything palpitates, breathes, exhausting itself in green above the vast roof of Peten."

Miguel Ángel Asturias, The Mirror of Lida Sal: Tales Based on Mayan Myths & Guatemalan Legends, p. 13-14.



Tikal Map: Click on arrows to see structures or on red box for inner map

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Wm Coe, Map of Tikal
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Map is from WIlliam Coe's Tikal: A Handbook of the Ancient Maya Ruins



Looking back at the Tikal skyline from the road to Uaxactun

Tikal Skyline

The blocky roofcomb of Temple V is easiest to recognize, somewhat left of center in the photograph. Temple I is to the left of Temple V, while Temple IV is the silhouette on the far right next to the bushes. Many thanks to David Strehlow for help correcting the identify of the temples.


Tikal Skyline from road to Uaxactun View of Tikal from Temple IV Temple III Twin Radial Complex Pyramid Complex Q Map of Tikal's Central and North Acropolis Tikal Pyramid of the Lost World Plaza of the Seven Temples, Str. 5D-91 Tikal Temple V Tikal Group G Tikal Temple of the Inscriptions