El Castillo, also known as the Temple of Kukulcan, is a Mesoamerican step-pyramid that dominates the center of the Chichen Itza archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán.

The pyramid consists of a series of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. Sculptures of plumed serpents run down the sides of the northern balustrade. Around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the late afternoon sun strikes off the northwest corner of the pyramid and casts a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade, creating the illusion of a feathered serpent "crawling" down the pyramid. The event has been very popular and is witnessed by thousands of visitors at the spring equinox, but it is questionable whether it is a result of a purposeful design, because the light-and-shadow effect can be observed, without major changes, during several weeks around the equinoxes. Each of the pyramid's four sides has around 91 steps which, when added together and including the temple platform on top as the final "step",may produce a total of 365 steps (the steps on the south side of the pyramid are eroded) (which is equal to the number of days of the Haab' year).

The structure is 24 m (79 ft) high, plus an additional 6 m (20 ft) for the temple. The square base measures 55.3 m (181 ft) across.

Construction

The construction of El Castillo, like other Mesoamerican pyramids, likely reflected the common practice of executing several phases of construction. The last construction probably took place between 900-1000 CE, while the substructure may have been constructed between 600-800 AD. Based on archaeological research, construction of El Castillo was based on the concept of axis mundi. It is thought that the space remained sacred regardless of the structure positioned on the location. When a temple or pyramid structure was renewed, the former construction was ritually destroyed, which involved resolving the space of spiritual forces to preserve its sacredness. It is estimated that this construction dates to the eleventh century CE. After all of the work was completed, an entryway was cut into the balustrade of the northeastern exterior staircase to provide access to tourists. The older, inner pyramid is referred to as the "substructure".

Alignment

The location of the pyramid is aligned at the intersection between four cenotes: the Sacred Cenote, Xtoloc, Kanjuyum, and Holtún. This alignment supports the position of El Castillo as an axis mundi. The western and eastern sides of the temple are angled to the zenith sunset and nadir sunrise, which may correspond with other calendar events such as start of the traditional planting and harvesting seasons. However, the approximate correspondence with the Sun's positions on its zenith and nadir passages is likely coincidental, because very few Mesoamerican orientations match these events and even for such cases a different explanation is much more likely

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Part of a World Heritage Site declared by UNESCO in 1988

Date: August 2013
Photographer: Merche Mateo
Additional information: wikipedia