El Castillo, also called the Temple of Kukulcán, rose at the heart of Chichén Itzá between the 8th and 12th centuries. Built by the Maya, it was dedicated to Kukulcán, the Feathered Serpent deity closely linked to Quetzalcoatl of central Mexico. Like other Maya temples, it was constructed in phases, each new building enclosing and ritually closing the earlier one. Beneath its final form lay an older substructure dating back as early as the 7th century. The pyramid stood 24 meters high, crowned by a 6-meter temple, with a square base stretching over 55 meters. Each of its four stairways climbed 91 steps, adding up with the top platform to 365, a reflection of the solar year. On its northern side, sculpted serpents ran down the balustrades, and during equinoxes, sunlight created the illusion of a serpent descending the steps—a display that continues to draw thousands of visitors, though it is unclear if the Maya designed it with this intent. Acoustic studies have shown another striking effect: clapping at the base produces an echo resembling the call of the quetzal bird, which some researchers believe was deliberately engineered. El Castillo captured early attention. In 1566, Friar Diego de Landa described it, followed centuries later by John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, who recorded its form under heavy vegetation in the 1840s. By the 20th century, it drew systematic excavation. In 1924, the Carnegie Institution began restoration, and in 1931 archaeologists cut into the pyramid to confirm the existence of an earlier temple within. Their work uncovered offerings of coral, obsidian, turquoise, and human remains, later housed in the National Anthropology Museum. Inside, archaeologists found two chambers. The 'Hall of Offerings' revealed a Chac Mool statue inlaid with mother-of-pearl, while the 'Chamber of Sacrifices' held human bones and a striking Red Jaguar Throne. This jaguar, painted with cinnabar pigment obtained through long-distance trade, carried deep symbolic weight, embodying life, death, and sacrifice. Its shell fangs and jadeite decorations tied it to the sacred trade networks of the Maya. The throne likely marked the axis mundi, the connection between the underworld, the earthly plane, and the heavens, and may have served as an offering during the ritual renewal of the temple. Beneath El Castillo lies a cenote, a water-filled sinkhole, suggesting that the Maya intentionally placed the pyramid above this natural feature. The combination of architecture, offerings, and sacred landscape reflects how the temple functioned not only as a monumental center of ritual but also as a cosmological map, linking human ceremonies with the cycles of time, trade, and the unseen world.

Shop

Temple of Kukulcan