Maya Calendar

Maya Calendar

The main pyramid of Chichen Itza (world cultural heritage) with its otherworldly perfection and well-proportioned beauty has to be ranked among the most wonderful creations of all mankind, probably equally perfect like the Taj Mahal, although totally different in form and function. It is in fact a precisely crafted astronomical instrument. The numbers of its stairs, levels and terraces all add up to significant numbers in the Mayan calendar. Twice a year – exactly on the spring and autumn equinox, crucial dates for sowing and harvesting – light and shadow of the setting sun, together with the sculpted snakeheads at the bottom of the stairs, create an illusion of a serpent, the most important symbol in Mayan mythology, winding down the pyramid.

There is one spot, where you can clap your hands, and the responding echo will sound like an eagle’s cry. Move two meters to the side and the effect is gone. It is way beyond our imagination, how someone can think out such an acoustic trick and than build the temple accordingly without computers, even without iron tools. Or did it occur just by chance? But the Mayans were such great mathematicians, they didn’t leave anything to chance on their architecture.