This volume retraces the development and magnificent flowering of Mayan architecture in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Belize over the period 300 B.C.-A.D. 1500. Tikal, the earliest Mayan religious centre, Palenque, famous for its ceremonial centre, and Copan with its hieroglyphic staircase featuring 2500 glyphs are among the cities featured, along with Chichen Itza and its ball court, and Bonampak and its frescoes. These astounding Creations testify to the knowledge and refinement of the most advanced of the pre-Columbian civilizations.

 7 INTRODUCTION

  The Maya enter History

19 THE ARCHITECTURAL LANGUAGE OF THE MAYA

  Laws and Techniques of the Builders

35 THE GREAT CLASSIC CITIES

  Tikal - a Jungle Metropolis

67 THE GOLDEN AGE OF PALENQUE

  Flourishing of the Arts in Chiapas

103 A NEGLECTED CHAPTER OF MAYA ART

  The Rio Bec and Chenes Styles

125 THE PUUC STYLE IN YUCATAN

  The Splendour of Uxmal"s Palaces

153 THE DIVERSITY OF THE YUCATEC CITIES

  Palaces, Arches and Observatories

183 THE CONTRIBUTION OF MEXICO TO YUCATAN

  Chichen Itza - Capital of the Toltec-Maya

215 CONCLUSION

  Decline and Fall of the Maya Civilization

230 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

232 GLOSSARY

234 BIBLIOGRAPHY

235 INDEX

237 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND CREDITS