The ancient cities of the New World - being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882 (1887) (14596344828)

Identifier: ancientcitiesofn00char (find matches)
Title: The ancient cities of the New World : being travels and explorations in Mexico and Central America from 1857-1882
Year: 1887 (1880s)
Authors: Charnay, Désiré, 1828-1915
Subjects: Indians of Mexico Indians of Central America
Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: Getty Research Institute
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation



Text Appearing Before Image:
!!.^ ORNAMENTATION OF THE UPPER_STORY OF^THE NUNNERY, CHICHEN-ITZA. sojourn in the city, when the Nunnery, from its elevated position,constituted a valuable fortress. Traces of their passage areobservable in various other buildings, notably in the Castillo,where their natural fanaticism, coupled with their ignorance,caused them to see in the portraiture of the national and re-ligious life of the Mayas, representations of the devil. This couldnot be suffered to remain, and as they were unable to demolishthe temples and palaces in which they lived, they whitewashed
Text Appearing After Image:
Ciiiciien-Itza. T^T^y the ornamentation, in order that their eyes might not beconstantly offended by the subjects therein represented. We try with small success to undo their savage work bymeans of daggers, brushes, and repeated washes, taking upmuch time, but in most cases the relief is lost to science,being much too defaced to allow us to take squeezes. Theidea that the chiefs who erected these monuments were theauthors of their defacement is too absurd for serious consideration. The Castillo, or rather temple,* is reared on a pyramid,facing north and south, and is the most interesting monumentat Chichen ; its four sides are occupied with staircases, facingthe cardinal points. Our drawing shows the western facade.The base of the pyramid measures 175 feet; it consists ofnine small esplanades, narrowing towards the top, supportedby perpendicular walls, and terminates in a structure about39 feet on one side by 21 feet high. The upper platform is68 feet above the level of the plain, hav