The Calakmul archaeological site, located in Campeche, in the southeast of Mexico, is seeing an increase in tourists arriving by the Mayan Train to learn the secrets of the ‘Kingdom of the Serpent’ and other findings of the Mayan culture that are on display at the Edzná Site Museum.
Nestled in the Mayan jungle and located 55 kilometers from the capital of Campeche, the site will exhibit starting this Monday new findings derived from the construction of the Mayan Train and the main monuments found in the last 50 years in the archaeological zone, which have become an attraction for tourists.
“We have 14 stelae from different periods, mainly from the Late Classic to the Early Classic, when most of the monuments that tell the life and historical events of some of its rulers were erected,” archaeologist Adriana Velázquez Morlet, director of the INAH Campeche Center, told EFE.
Inaugurated by the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on June 28, the site “complements the cultural offering of the archaeological zone of Edzná” by exhibiting 1,663 pieces, some found in works that are part of the Program for the Improvement of Archaeological Zones (Promeza).
“There are also ceramics found during the construction of a hotel that is near the archaeological zone, as well as new information about the region,” he added.
The new site also has replicas and graphic elements on the architecture of the archaeological site of Edzná and its various styles that range from El Petén, Chenes, Río Bec to Puuc.
Velázquez Morlet reported that after visiting the Museum, “tourists can tour the majestic pre-Columbian city that dates from 400 to 1,000 AD, and which was an important capital, where elite women played an active role in society.”
On the other hand, Irma Cantún Mata, in charge of the Edzná archaeological zone, a word from the Chontal Maya that means “House or place of the Itzá,” explained that the 22 buildings of the site combine diverse architectural styles captured in majestic monuments and structures.
During the tour of the area, she showed the new signs that provide relevant information to foreign and national tourists, such as Espiridión Licea Pérez, from Cuernavaca, in the central state of Morelos, who considered that the Mayan culture “is unique.”
“Its architecture, the majesty of its buildings, ancestral gastronomy and the wisdom they had of the cosmos make it the most important civilization in the world,” she said.
A solar spectacle
Several visitors enjoyed a spectacle in the great Acropolis of Edzná: a solar halo that crowned the site that includes the Temple of the North, a 14.5-meter structure with Puuc, Chenes and Río Bec styles.
The House of the Moon, whose name derives from an east-west axis that marks a solar course, as well as one of the lunar phases recorded by the ancient Mayans.
Another place that captivates visitors is the Temple of the Masks with the image of Kinich Ahau, whose face emphasizes the squinting eyes, which was considered of high aesthetic and hierarchical value in the Mayan world.
The other mask represents the god Pax, a supernatural being from the sky.
In the coming months, Edzná will open the Visitor Service Center (Catvis), a complementary work of the Mayan Train, where they will offer food, crafts and other products that are generated in Campeche “to support the ejidatarios” of the region.
Source: forbes
