This ancient Maya site is located at the western frontier of the lowland Maya region. While the name Palenque comes from a nearby village, it is possible that the village was named after the ancient city or something similar sounding - bahlam kin - jaguar sun - the place where the sun descends into the underworld, the realm of the jaguar.
It was the flood plain of the Usumacinta to the north that most likely provided Palenque's inhabitants with the resources to construct their extraordinary city. Blessed with the highest average rainfall in Mexico, this fertile alluvial plain could have been successfully farmed with raised beds, and would have produced a harvest that not only could sustain a large workforce but would also have provided an abundance that could be traded along the great Usumacinta. It seems that the gods were as enchanted with Palenque as today's visitors. Architecture The architecture of Palenque was truly inventive. They reduced the massive weight of the traditional corbel arch by reducing its span with a dividing wall and the use of tribolated hollows that minimized the stress on load bearing walls. This allowed the Palenque builders to construct buildings with multiple piers and doorways on the front to let air and light into the interior. Mansard roofs decorated with stucco carvings and horizontal moldings gave the Palenque structures a pleasing linear appearance.
The most notable structures of Palenque are the Palace (A) and the Temple of Inscriptions (B) both begun during the reign of Hanab Pacal and added to by his sons, Chan Bahlum and Kan Xul. Also built during Pacal's lifetime was the temple now called the "Temple of the Count" after the artist/adventurer, Count de Waldek who camped out in the temple in 1831 while creating fanciful illustrations of the site. A grouping of temples southeast of the Palace are known as | |
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