The Mayan architecture of the Maya civilization spans across several thousands of years, several eras of political change, and architectural innovation before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Often, the buildings most dramatic and easily recognizable as creations of the Maya peoples are the step pyramids of the Terminal Preclassic Maya period and beyond. Based in general Mesoamerican architectural traditions, the Maya utilized geometric proportions and intricate carving to build everything from simple houses to ornate temples. This article focuses on the more well-known pre-classic and classic examples of Maya architecture. The temples like the ones at Palenque, Tikal, and Uxmal represent a zenith of Maya art and architecture. Through the observation of numerous elements and stylistic distinctions, remnants of Maya architecture have become an important key to understanding their religious beliefs and culture as a whole.
Urban design
As Maya cities spread throughout the varied geography of Mesoamerica, the extent of site planning appears to have been minimal, their cities having been built somewhat haphazardly as dictated by the topography of each independent location. Maya architecture tends to integrate a great degree of natural features. For instance, some cities existing on the flat limestone plains of the northern Yucatán grew into great sprawling municipalities, while others built in the hills of Usumacinta utilized the natural loft of the topography to raise their towers and temples to impressive heights. However, some semblance of order, as required by any large city, still prevailed. At the onset of large-scale construction, a predetermined axis was typically established in congruence with the cardinal directions. Depending upon the location and availability of natural resources such as fresh-water wells, or cenotes, the city grew by connecting great plazas with the numerous platforms that created the sub-structure for nearly all Maya buildings, by means of sacbeob causeways. As more structures were added and existing structures re-built or remodelled, the great Maya cities seemed to take on an almost random identity that contrasts sharply with other great Mesoamerican cities such as Teotihuacan and its rigid grid-like construction.
At the heart of the Maya city existed the large plazas surrounded by their most valued governmental and religious buildings such as the royal acropolis, great pyramid temples, and occasionally ballcourts. Though city layouts evolved as nature dictated, careful attention was placed on the directional orientation of temples and observatories so that they were constructed in accordance with the Maya interpretation of the orbits of the stars. Immediately outside this ritual center were the structures of lesser nobles, smaller temples, and individual shrines: the less sacred and less important structures had a greater degree of privacy. Outside the constantly evolving urban core were the less permanent and more modest homes of the common people. Classic Era Maya urban design could easily be described as the division of space by great monuments and causeways. In this case, the open public plazas were the gathering places for the people and the focus of the urban design, while interior space was entirely secondary. Only in the Late Post-Classic era did the great Maya cities develop into more fortress-like defensive structures that lacked, for the most part, the large and numerous plazas of the Classic. In the Postclassic in Peten, Guatemala, smaller protected settlements emerged in defensible locations, for example on peninsulas and islands in the Petén Basin. These sites had diminutive plazas, and smaller ceremonials structures and the canons of architectural design were modified from the previous Classic period but were recognizable designs shifts from the Classic patterning.
Architectural styles Maya architecture can be identified, depending on the region and the corresponding period, into different styles. The regional architectural styles have unique characteristics, features and elements that show diverse social and political aspects of the different regions and history periods of the Maya civilization.
Puuc The Puuc style is the most complex and detailed, considered the pinnacle of Maya architecture, implementing architectural, constructive and highly elaborated decorative aspects. It is the distinctive architectural style of the Puuc region of northern Yucatan that developed during the Postclassic period. The buildings are mostly great pyramids, temples and palaces richly decorated in the upper façades with intricate stone mosaics, alternating repeated geometric figures with more elaborate sculptures. A common feature found in its ornamentation are columns with god Chaak masks, usually placed in the corners. the Puuc style also represented a major architectural advance of the Maya civilization, the Puuc style used coated concrete on walls and vaults, and these were covered with stones of finely carved edges replacing the use of large stones set on top of one another using mud mortar for structural support of earlier Classic period Maya styles. Example: Uxmal, Kabah, Sayil, Labna
Petén It was one of the main styles of the major sites of the central and southern Maya Lowlands it developed since the late Preclassic period of Mesoamerica until the end of the Classic period with the collapse of the Maya civilization that caused the abandonment of the major sites in this region. One of its most recognizable features are enormous buildings and tall pyramids with long staircases and temples at the top some of which have flat roof combs. The temples and facades of the structures in this style are flat and lack of decorations. The Petén style was highly influenced by Teotihuacán architecture in features such as the use of the talud-tablero and stepped platforms. Example: Calakmul, Tikal, Naranjo, Dzibanche, Ichkabal
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