The Mayans were a highly developed civilisation. Their empire, hidden in the rainforest, consisted of huge palaces and imposing pyramids. Although they had settled on the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico much earlier, they perfected their construction techniques around the year 900 A.D. The most important city in Yucatán dates back to this period: Chichén Itzá. Come explore this famous and beautiful Mayan city.
The Popol Vuh, the sacred religious book from the Classic Era of Mayan civilization, contains their story of creation. The Mayan gods created the earth, heaven and sun. They made people out of corn: muscles from corncobs, limbs from corn dough, the human mind from corn flour and human blood from corn juice. The corn people immediately left their mark on the world – somewhat hesitant at first with modest burial mounds, but much more elaborately after this, with complete cities filled with palaces, temples and pyramids and, later on, sophisticated structures covered with highly ornate decorations.