El Caracol
The Observatory
of Chichen Itza, Mexico
G'day folks,
No telescopes, no power, no gift shop—one of the world's oldest observatories in Mexico takes astronomy back to basics.
Slowly eroding in the world-famous Mayan city of Chichen Itza, the El Caracol “observatory” stands as a monument not only to the architectural skill of the ancient Mayans but also to their surprisingly advanced understanding of the heavens.
El Caracol, which translates to “spiral-shaped” or more literally “snail” is named after the winding staircase that rounds the interior of the central tower. The stacked levels of the building resemble a pocked stone wedding cake with staggered staircases leading to the central tower whose collapsed dome impressively compares to the design of modern observatories.
El Caracol’s crumbling viewing tower rises above the lush Yucatan jungle so that ancient astronomers could view the stars in 360 degrees, and track solstices, equinoxes and eclipses. Most delighting is the alignment of the remaining viewing windows, which seem to be designed specifically to track the appearance and disappearance of Venus in the night sky. In addition to assigning the second planet some religious significance, the Mayans were able to track the movements of Venus and thus measure longer intervals of the Earth’s orbit.
Within eyeshot of the pyramid El Castillo (one of the NEW seven wonders of the world), El Caracol is easy to visit and is considered a major Mexican tourist attraction.
Clancy's comment: Extraordinary building, eh? Wow, these people were so smart.
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