MAYAN ARCHITECTURE Stuthi

Shruti
Sneha
Mokshitha
Tarika
• The Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization.
• Maya civilization Is well known for its art, architecture,
mathematics, calendar, and astronomical
system.
• The Maya civilization was developed in the Yucatán
Peninsula, in the eastern part of Mesoamerica. This
area Included Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize.
• Language:
• Mayan itself is a language and most Mayan
descendants now speak Spanish. The Mayan
language was spoken 5,000 years ago.

• Religion:
• In Mayan religion it mostly consisted of the worship of
nature gods. Gods like of the
• sun, rain, and corn.
• They showed the importance of astronomy and
astrology.
• Rituals of human sacrifice and the building of
pyramidical temples. Some of the Mayan religion
still lives on today.
 Governance

• Government was an important part of the Maya civilization.

• Priests seemed to be the most important person.
• Many of them were rulers of the cities.
• Rulers were seen as half gods and worshipped them in stone
pyramid structures.

Agriculture & Trade-

• Agriculture was the main occupation.

• The Mayans traded with many nearby
countries, which allowed the exposure to
different cultures and religions.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
• The Mayans had 3 main social levels:
• Royalty- lived in palaces.

• Wealthy- lived in large houses near palaces.

• Poor- lived in outskirts of town and they were poor.

• There were slaves, peasants, nobility,

artisans, priests, and
leaders.
 MAYAN ARCHITECTURE
• The Preclassic period (c. 2000 BC to 250
AD) saw the establishment of the first
complex societies
in the Maya region.
• The first Maya cities developed around
750 BC, and by 500 BC these cities
possessed monumental architecture,
including large temples with elaborate
stucco façades.
• Maya architecture spans many thousands
of years. the most easily recognizable as a
Mayan
construction is the stepped pyramid from
the Pre-classic period.
• Pyramids and Temples: Often the most important religious temples
were at the top of
the towering Maya pyramids, because is the closest place to the heavens.

• Temples were raised on platforms, most often upon a pyramid. The

earliest temples were probably thatched huts built upon low platforms.

• By the Classic period, temple roofs were being topped with roof combs
that extended the height of the temple and served as a foundation for
monumental art.

• The temple shrine contained between one and three rooms, and were
dedicated to important deities. Such a deity might be one of the patron
gods of the city, or a deified ancestor.
• In general, freestanding pyramids were shrines honoring powerful
ancestors.
MAYAN MAIN CONSTRUCTIONS
• Ceremonials platforms: used for public
ceremonies and religious events as well as to
exhibit the heads of the victims of war. In this
platform Mayan displayed the head of the
leader of the team that lose at the ball game.
 MAYAN MAIN CONSTRUCTIONS
• Palaces: These complexes were usually located in
the site core, beside a principal plaza. Maya
palaces consisted of a platform supporting a
multiroom range structure.
• The term acropolis, in a Maya context, refers to a
complex of structures built upon platforms of
varying height. Palaces and acropolis were
essentially elite residential compounds.
• Palaces are usually arranged around one or more
courtyards, with their façades facing inwards;
some examples are adorned with sculpture.
• The hay huts were a basic structure for Mayans and
most of the Mayan population lived in these types
of houses.

• They were made from resources around the area like the walls
consisted of mud and stone.

• They stood up by wooden poles. The Mayans architecture

advanced over time andthe buildingswerebigbut they weren’t
that tall.
• The exact type of stone used in masonry construction varied
according to locally available resources, and this also affected the
building style. Across a broad swathe of the Maya area, limestone
was immediately available.

• Wood was used for beams, and for lintels, even in masonry
structures. Throughout Maya history, common huts and some
temples continued to be built from wooden poles and thatch.
 URBANDESIGN
• Maya cities were not formally planned, and were subject to irregular
expansion, with the
haphazard addition of palaces, temples and other buildings.
• Most Maya cities tended to grow outwards from the core, and
upwards as new structures were superimposed upon preceding
architecture.
• Maya cities usually had a ceremonial and administrative centre Urban core of Tikal in the 8th century AD
surrounded by a vast irregular sprawl of residential complexes.
• The centers of all Maya cities featured sacred precincts, sometimes
separated from nearby
residential areas by walls. These precincts contained pyramid temples
and other monumental
architecture dedicated to elite activities, such as basal platforms that
supported administrative
or elite residential complexes. Sculpted monuments were
raised to record the deeds of the ruling dynasty.
• City centers also featured plazas, sacred ballcourts and buildings used for
marketplaces and schools. Frequently causeways linked the centre to
outlying areas of the city. Some of these classes of architecture formed
lesser groups in the outlying areas of the city, which served as sacred
centres for non-royal lineages. The areas adjacent to these sacred
compounds included residential complexes housing wealthy lineages.
The largest and richest of these elite compounds sometimes possessed
sculpture and art of craftsmanship equal to that of royal art.
• The ceremonial centre of the Maya city was where the ruling elite lived,
and where the administrative functions of the city were performed,
together with religious ceremonies. It was also where the inhabitants of
the city gathered for public activities. Elite residential complexes occupied
the best land around the city centre, while commoners had their
residences dispersed further away from the ceremonial centre. Residential
units were built on top of stone platforms to raise them above the level of
the rain season floodwaters.
Uxmal City-MayanCivilization
• Uxmal is an ancient Maya city of the classical period in
present-day Mexico.
• It is considered one of the most important
archaeological sites of Maya culture and is considered
one of the Maya cities most representative of the
region's dominant architectural style.

• It has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in

recognition of its significance.
 Uxmal City-
• Uxmal was in better condition than many other Maya
sites.
• Much was built with well-cut stones set into a core of
concrete not relying on plaster to hold the building
together.
• The Maya architecture here is considered matched
only by that of Palenque in elegance and beauty. The
style of Maya architecture predominates.
• It is one of the few Maya cities where the casual
visitor can get a good idea of how the entire
ceremonial center looked in ancient times.
Map of a central portion of Uxmal
Tikal City-MayanCivilization
• Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which
was likely to have been called Yax Mutal,
found in a rainforest in Guatemala.
• Tikal was the capital of a conquest state
that became one of the most powerful
kingdoms of the ancient Maya.
 Tikal Temple

TikalCity
Teotihuacan City-MayanCivilization
• Teotihuacan was an ancient Mesoamerican city
located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico,
located in the State of Mexico, known today as the
site of many of the most architecturally significant
Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian
Americas.

the city grew by connecting great plazas

with the numerous platforms that
created the sub-structure for nearly all
Maya buildings, by means of sacbeob
causeways
Pyramid of the Sun and Moon