El Tajín
Pre-Hispanic city near Papantla, known for the niched pyramid and seventeen ball courts.
El Tajín stands in the humid foothills of northern Veracruz, a short distance from Papantla. Occupied from about AD 300, it reached its height in the Epiclassic period between 600 and 900, when it governed much of the coastal plain and drew in populations of Totonac, Huastec and highland origin. The city declined around 1200 and was overgrown until a Spanish official reported it in 1785. Systematic excavation began in the 1930s under José García Payón, and UNESCO inscribed the site in 1992.
Its architecture is unusual in Mesoamerica for the use of deep recessed niches, flying cornices and stepped-fret ornament. The Pyramid of the Niches carries 365 openings on its façades, a count widely read as calendrical. The upper terraces of Tajín Chico include the Building of the Columns, whose carved drums record the ruler 13 Rabbit. Seventeen ball courts have been identified, more than at any other known Mesoamerican city, and the panels of the South Ball Court depict rituals linked to the game. A site museum displays sculpture and ceramics.
Highlights
- Pyramid of the Niches with 365 recessed openings
- South Ball Court and its carved relief panels
- Building of the Columns on the Tajín Chico terraces
- Site museum with sculpture, ceramics and a scale model
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