DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26747#0211
Chap. II.
CENTRAL AMEKICAN ARCHITECTURE.
147
of expressing the thoughts. Tliere may no doubt be certain affinities
with the old world. Inflnences may have come by Behring’s Straits,
or across tlie ocean. The only connection that can be traced with any
certainty is with the Polynesian islanders. Tlie very variety of the
theories just mentioned almost proves that none can be made out at all
satisfactorily. On the whole we may safely exclude all such con-
siderations, and treat of the architecture of Central America as com-
plete in itself, and unconnected witli any other known style.
Central American Architecture.
Owing to our imperfect knowledge of the subject, it is not easy to
define the various classes of buildings into which the examples we
possess should be dividecl. As in almost all countries, however, the
principal are the Teocallis or houses of God.
These are always pyramids, square in plan, and generally formed
into two, three, or more stories or terraces, with a platform on the top,
on which the temple, properly so called, always stands.
Isext to these are the palaces, or the houses of kings, which are
extremely similar to the temples, except in the number and extent of
the chambers they contain, and also that, generally, the pyramids on
which tliey stand are lower, and much longer in one direction than in
the other.
A third class are tumuli or mounds of earth, with sepulchral
chambers, generally above ground, the openings of which are visible
outside; their outline seems to have been merely that of a mound of
earth with no buildings on the top.
Besides these there are gateways apparently more intended for
display than defence, city walls, wells, and various works of public
utility, and great monolithic idols, which belong more to the province
of architecture than to anything that can be styled imitative sculpture.
As specimens of architecture, however, in reality only the two first
deserve notice in a work like the present.
Of the first class, by far the largest and most celebrated is the
pyramid of Cholula, near Mexico, said to have been erected long before
the arrival of the Astecs. It is now a mere mound of ill-built bricks
and rubbish. In plan it measures 1440 ft. each way, and the height of
its 4 terraces is 177 ft. Its area, therefore, was nearly four times that
of the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, though its height is not much
more than one-third. When we come to consider the material and skill
required for the erection of the two, no comparison can be made between
this rude mound of the Americans and the imperishable structures of
the Egyptian kings. On the large platform on its summit now stands a
church dedicated to the Virgin, and no remains of ancient architectural
ornament exist, either in or about the place, by which its style or
affinities can be guessed. The same remarks apply to the temples of
Tezcuco and Teotihuacan, and to all the buildings in the Mexican
Valley.
In Yucatan the case is widely different. The pyramids there are
l 2
CENTRAL AMEKICAN ARCHITECTURE.
147
of expressing the thoughts. Tliere may no doubt be certain affinities
with the old world. Inflnences may have come by Behring’s Straits,
or across tlie ocean. The only connection that can be traced with any
certainty is with the Polynesian islanders. Tlie very variety of the
theories just mentioned almost proves that none can be made out at all
satisfactorily. On the whole we may safely exclude all such con-
siderations, and treat of the architecture of Central America as com-
plete in itself, and unconnected witli any other known style.
Central American Architecture.
Owing to our imperfect knowledge of the subject, it is not easy to
define the various classes of buildings into which the examples we
possess should be dividecl. As in almost all countries, however, the
principal are the Teocallis or houses of God.
These are always pyramids, square in plan, and generally formed
into two, three, or more stories or terraces, with a platform on the top,
on which the temple, properly so called, always stands.
Isext to these are the palaces, or the houses of kings, which are
extremely similar to the temples, except in the number and extent of
the chambers they contain, and also that, generally, the pyramids on
which tliey stand are lower, and much longer in one direction than in
the other.
A third class are tumuli or mounds of earth, with sepulchral
chambers, generally above ground, the openings of which are visible
outside; their outline seems to have been merely that of a mound of
earth with no buildings on the top.
Besides these there are gateways apparently more intended for
display than defence, city walls, wells, and various works of public
utility, and great monolithic idols, which belong more to the province
of architecture than to anything that can be styled imitative sculpture.
As specimens of architecture, however, in reality only the two first
deserve notice in a work like the present.
Of the first class, by far the largest and most celebrated is the
pyramid of Cholula, near Mexico, said to have been erected long before
the arrival of the Astecs. It is now a mere mound of ill-built bricks
and rubbish. In plan it measures 1440 ft. each way, and the height of
its 4 terraces is 177 ft. Its area, therefore, was nearly four times that
of the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, though its height is not much
more than one-third. When we come to consider the material and skill
required for the erection of the two, no comparison can be made between
this rude mound of the Americans and the imperishable structures of
the Egyptian kings. On the large platform on its summit now stands a
church dedicated to the Virgin, and no remains of ancient architectural
ornament exist, either in or about the place, by which its style or
affinities can be guessed. The same remarks apply to the temples of
Tezcuco and Teotihuacan, and to all the buildings in the Mexican
Valley.
In Yucatan the case is widely different. The pyramids there are
l 2