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The Castle, as seen from a ceremonial platform
to the west, with the Temple of the Steles at
right
Standing
close to the edge of the cliff on the east side
of the inner precinct, it was built in different
periods. The oldest part consists of two platforms
that supported two galleries with a flat roof
reached by a central staircase. Later the center
of the building was filled in, the staircase was
extended and the east wall built. This produced
a new base where a temple was erected with two
vaulted rooms, three entrances, and a lintel supported
by two serpent-shaped columns with their heads
on the floor and their tails above.
The facade has three niches, the central one containing
part of a Descending God, and there are two stucco
masks on the corners. The portico and shrine have
benches, and the vault is shaped like the cross-section
of a bottle. Finally, two oratories were built,
one at each side of the bottom of the staircase.
Stucco masks wrap round the corner of the main,
west-facing facade of the Castle between the two
cornices. They have open mouths which bare their
teeth, large stylized eyes and feather headdresses.
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small foreground building contains nothing at
all, in fact it's mostly walls. It's a convenient,
dark place to change film or cool off. But the
Mayas probably used it as sort of a solar calendar,
as the portals face in all four cardinal directions.
At the solstices (winter and summer) sunlight
will shine directly in the north door and out
the south, or the reverse. |
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A
view of the Castle taken through an archway
at its southwest corner.
(Tech
note: I stopped down to f/11 for this one. I
agree with the f/64 school here, but it was
not practical [film speed] or possible [SLR
lenses generally only go to f/22 or f/32])
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