Archaeological sights in Palenque
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Templo de las Inscripciones Group
As you walk in from the entrance, passing to the south of the overgrown Templo XI, the vegetation suddenly peels away to reveal most of Palenque's most magnificent buildings in one sublime vista. A line of temples rises in front of the jungle on your right, culminating in the Templo de las Inscripciones about 100m ahead; El Palacio, with its trademark tower, stands to the left of the Templo de las Inscripciones; and the Grupo de las Cruces rises in the distance beneath a thick jungle backdrop.
The first temple on your right is Templo XII, called the Templo de La Calavera (Temple of the Skull) for the relief sculpture of a rabbit or deer skull at the foot of one of its…
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Grupo de las Cruces
Pakal's son, Kan B'alam II, was a prolific builder, and soon after the death of his father started designing the temples of the Grupo de las Cruces (Group of the Crosses). All three main pyramid-shaped structures surround a plaza southeast of the Templo de las Inscripciones. They were all dedicated in AD 692 as a spiritual focal point for Palenque's triad of patron deities. The 'cross' carvings in some buildings here symbolize the ceiba tree, which in Maya belief held up the universe.
The Templo del Sol (Temple of the Sun), on the west side of the plaza, has the best-preserved roof comb at Palenque. Carvings inside, commemorating Kan B'alam's birth in AD 635 and accession…
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Palenque Northeastern Grupos
East of the Grupo Norte, the main path crosses Arroyo Otolum. Some 70m beyond the stream, a right fork will take you to Grupo C, a set of jungle-covered buildings and plazas, thought to have been lived in from about AD 750 to 800.
If you stay on the main path, you'll descend steep steps to a group of low, elongated buildings, probably occupied residentially around AD 770 to 850. The path goes alongside the Arroyo Otolum, which here tumbles down a series of small falls forming natural bathing pools known as the Baño de la Reina (Queen's Bath). Unfortunately, one can't bathe here anymore.
The path continues to another residential quarter, the Grupo de Los Murciélagos (Bat…
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Grupo Norte
North of El Palacio is a ball court (juego de pelota) and the handsome buildings of the Northern Group. Crazy Count de Waldeck lived in the so-called Templo del Conde (Temple of the Count), constructed in AD 647.
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