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The Meaning of Maya Architecture:
Both houses and temples defined the center of the world -- one for the Maya family, the other for the state. Both were constructed on raised platforms, with low earthen platforms for houses and terraced stucco pyramids for temples. Houses are the oldest known examples of Maya architecture. They provided the basis for all later elaborations in stone and plaster. Minimal interior space was the norm. Corbeled vaults and interior beams reproduced the triangular space of the house.
Mayan sacred architecture was a graphic means of expressing their world view. The orientation and location of buildings represented cosmological order: east symbolized birth and life; west, death and the Underworld: north, the celestial realm: south, the earth and the human domain.
Temples were sacred mountains with doorways that represented portals (caves) leading to the abode of the gods (the heart of the mountain) and the tree of the world marking the sacred center. The ballgame was played in stone courts that represented both the birth place of the Maize God and an opening to the Underworld. As divine kings built and rebuilt cosmic portals in the same space over centuries, their inner sanctums became ever more sacred. With the passage of time, the gods passed through such thresholds and into the living monarch with increasing facility. |