HONDURAS: COPAN

In the land known today as Honduras, the Maya-Toltec culture was born 3,000 years before Christ while Europe was still considered a land of barbarians.  Scientists consider the Maya-Toltec civilization to have become the most developed indigenous culture in the world. Without a doubt, it was the most advanced in Middle America. Copan’s Pyramids, temples, and stone monuments justify the claim. They are in the northwestern zone of Honduran territory, near the border with Guatemala. At Copan, Mayan structures date back to at least 1000 years BC. Nevertheless, in the 10th century AD, this colossal metropolis of 3,450 buildings and more than 15,000 inhabitants, was mysteriously abandoned. So were several other Mayan city-states. The archaeological zone of the Mayas extends from the Tehuantepec Isthmus in Mexico to Honduran territory in Central America. Today, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras encompass the land that once belonged to them. In this vast geographical region, there are a number of archaeological ruins. Scientists come to unveil the mysteries of hieroglyphics, engraved stelae, altars, ceramic and jade objects in the land of the ancient centers, like Copan, Tikal, Chichen Itza and Uxmal. While the area is rich in minerals, the inhabitants only utilized the precious stones, particularly jade, and some metals like gold and silver, with sumptuary ends in mind. The Copan Valley is the site of some of the most important sources of information on the ancient Maya civilization. The ancient city of Copan has always been referred to as the most artistically advanced and elaborate of all the Maya cities. The principal attractions are the main park, Las Sepulturas, Los Sapos, the museum located in the town, and the 'tree stones' or stelae surrounding the valley.

The Main Park - has different areas of interest:

The Ball Court, the most artistic in Mesoamerica, with unique side wall markers resembling macaw heads.

The Great Plaza famous for its stelae and zoomorphic altars scattered around it. The Hieroglyphic Stairway holds the longest known text left by the Maya civilization. It was erected by ruler number 15, known as Smoke-Shell, and is believed to be a lineage tree recording the ascension and death of all Copan kings from Ya-Kuk-Mo to Smoke-Shell himself.

The Acropolis is divided into the east and west court plazas and features the most monumental temples in Copan. The urban splendor of Copan was declared by UNESCO as a Cultural Patrimony of Humanity in 1 979. Copan has great plazas, enormous monuments, and astronomical observatories.  Its temples, though in ruins, are fantastic, key milestones in Honduras' history. Access to this religious and ceremonial center—a stone showcase of the best, definitive era in the Mayan world—is easy by way of San Pedro Sula or Tegucigalpa. The grandiosity of the ruins astonishes visitors. They are a testimony to the abilities of a civilization of astronomers and mathematicians, a people who discovered the zero centuries before the Europeans. It was a culture that bred magnificent architects to design huge temples and pyramids, as well as aqueducts and roads that united their empire. Historic testimonies speak of the importance of corn in the Maya-Toltec civilization. It was the Mayan-Toltecs who began the cultivation of the golden kernel. It spread through the Americas and then the rest of the world. Because of its nutritive value and variety, corn became and remains a main staple in the diet of many nations. Stone was mostly used for building structures and monuments. It was also used to make construction tools, fishing implements, household utensils and weapons.

Copán Ruinas - This beautiful village with cobbled streets and white adobe buildings is near the famous Maya ruins and boasts a lovely colonial church. There are hot springs a one-hour's drive from the village church.

Copan Great Plaza - The Great Plaza is an enormous space that is today covered by grass. Three sides of it are surrounded by stairways and terraces. There, travelers will find quite a few stelae with teas reliefs as well as monolithic stone monuments. Most of them were erected by Regent Conejo 18, who ordered their construction between 731 and 736 A D. He broke the tradition of using teas relief to decorate by adopting a more realistic, holistic style, unique to Copan. Conejo 18 also broke all other traditions. He conserved the buildings constructed by his father, Humo Jaguar, who preceded him as King of Copan. In 738 A D., the start of the slow decline of Copan, Conejo 18 was captured and beheaded by a rival monarch of a satellite city-state.

The Central Patio - This enormous grass-covered plaza is within the area where the Mayas played their ball games. The arena is one of the most beautiful structures, with its stairway of hieroglyphics, now protected from the natural elements by an enormous tarp. 

The Western Patio - This complex makes up what is considered to be the acropolis, forming part of the ingenious architecture of the city of Copan. Various artificial platforms, constructed at different levels, hold together the multiple buildings and structures. Behind the Temple of Inscriptions is the platform for reflection. Underneath it, in the western patio, there is a symbolic playing field. Some historians believe the players went there to do much more than play ball. 

The Eastern Patio - This rectangular plaza has, in its extreme western side, the Stairway of the Jaguar, which is guarded by two fierce stone animals. Above, in the center of the stairs is a powerful Altar of Venus, It is an image of the sun god, Kinichi Ahau, surrounded by hieroglyphic signs of the planet Venus. In the extreme north of this patio are the ruins of Temple 22, constructed by Conejo 18 in 715 AD The exterior door to this temple once represented the open mouth of a serpent or stylized monster, in a symbolic representation of the other world. It is indicative of a place where gods and ancestors could materialize in the real world. Maya tradition demanded that each new king destroy the monuments erected by his predecessor, a custom that is reminiscent of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The remains were used to fill in the foundations of the new constructions. The religious importance of the ball games ended with the sacrifice of prisoners of war and of the losers, who, while being gladiators, fell under spectator disdain or fury for their double failure. More than 2,500 individual hieroglyphics are on the stone stelae. It is the longest ideographic text found in the Mayan world. Much of the information about the dynasty during the Classical Period was obtained from it. Two of the most notable sculptures in Copan are those of the monkey executioners—they surround the reflection platform. In the western patio, on the famous Q Altar, the sculptures represent the 16 mandates of the Classic Period in Copan.