Toniná
A pre-Hispanic city whose name in Tzeltal means “Great House of Stone.” It is a sacred space made up of an artificial mountain of seven platforms, raised on a limestone hill that overlooks a vast, elongated valley. Toniná reached its peak between the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 10th century A.D., and it was a military power, as attested by the abundant representations of prisoners in stucco and stone. Its most important ruler was Tzots Choj, “Bat-Jaguar.” At Toniná, in 909, the last inscription of the Classic-era Maya was written.
The site is entered through the ballcourt of the prisoners, one of the largest of its time, located on the great platform, where the Altar of Sacrifices also stands and the ballcourt of the katuns opens up, next to which there are several sculptural pieces. The palace of the underworld is hidden on the third platform, while on the fourth stands the palace of the frets and of war, whose facade is composed of four stepped spiral frets.
On the slope of the sixth platform is the mural of the four suns, a kind of codex made in stucco that represents the myth of the four cosmogonic eras through which the world passes. In it, the suns of each cycle are represented by falling human heads.
Outstanding is the representation of the sun of death, which holds in its hands the head of a decapitated person. Also on the sixth platform is the temple of the earth monster, with the stucco representation of the monster devouring a solar sphere of stone. This temple is oriented according to the winter and spring solstices. Finally, on the seventh platform rise the temples of the prisoners and of the smoking mirror, the main one at the highest point of the complex, the tallest in Mesoamerica.
Toniná has a splendid Site Museum, located in the middle of a rectangular esplanade built to recall the myth of the creation of the universe as it was conceived by the peoples of antiquity.
The site is entered through the ballcourt of the prisoners, one of the largest of its time, located on the great platform, where the Altar of Sacrifices also stands and the ballcourt of the katuns opens up, next to which there are several sculptural pieces. The palace of the underworld is hidden on the third platform, while on the fourth stands the palace of the frets and of war, whose facade is composed of four stepped spiral frets.
On the slope of the sixth platform is the mural of the four suns, a kind of codex made in stucco that represents the myth of the four cosmogonic eras through which the world passes. In it, the suns of each cycle are represented by falling human heads.
Outstanding is the representation of the sun of death, which holds in its hands the head of a decapitated person. Also on the sixth platform is the temple of the earth monster, with the stucco representation of the monster devouring a solar sphere of stone. This temple is oriented according to the winter and spring solstices. Finally, on the seventh platform rise the temples of the prisoners and of the smoking mirror, the main one at the highest point of the complex, the tallest in Mesoamerica.
Toniná has a splendid Site Museum, located in the middle of a rectangular esplanade built to recall the myth of the creation of the universe as it was conceived by the peoples of antiquity.
