Tikal Mayan Ruins

Tikal has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979
Tikal Mayan Ruins - Tikal is one of the most iconic and impressive Maya ruins in the world. Located in the department of El Peten in northern Guatemala, Tikal is a popular attraction for visitors in Belize because of its close proximity to the Belize-Guatemala border.
Why You Have to Visit Tikal On Your Vacation?
Tikal is the site of one of the oldest and most powerful city states of the ancient Maya civilization with a footprint of 6 square miles (16 square kilometers). The main attractions for modern visitors are the enormous buildings, including the so-called Temple 1 (measuring 154 feet high), royal palaces, and pyramids. The site also includes three ball courts, hundreds of smaller buildings, stelae and a network of elevated causeways.
What is the Best Way to Experience Tikal?
For national monuments (such as Tikal),
Best Way to Get to Tikal?
If you’re in Belize, there are a number of different ways to reach the remote jungle site of Tikal.
International flights depart daily from the Philip Goldson International Airport in Belize City to the town of Flores in Guatemala. From Flores, private operators offer services to Tikal (about 45 miles/70 km).
When Is the Best Time to Visit Tikal?
The Maya site of Tikal is inside the Tikal National Park, which opens at 6:00 am and closes at 6:00 pm daily. There is lodging available inside the park for overnight visitors.
Where Is Tikal Located?
Tikal is located within the Tikal National Park in the northern district of El Peten in the country of Guatemala. The entire area is now a nationally-protected biosphere and consists of dense jungle. The nearest inhabited town is Uaxactun, approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Tikal.

Tikal Mayan Ruins

  Tikal National Park encompasses 575 square kilometres of jungle and thousands of ruined structures.
    The central part of the ancient city alone contains 3,000 buildings and covers about 16 square kilometers.
    Tikal is also part of the one-million-hectare Maya Biosphere Reserve created in 1990 to protect the dense forests of the Peten, which started to disappear at an alarming rate due to population pressures, illegal logging and slash-and-burn agricultural practices.
     Archeologists estimate that the Maya settled in the area now known as Tikal in about 900 BC.
    Tikal grew into an important ceremonial, cultural, and commercial centre over the centuries. Most of the city's huge temples were constructed during the eighth century AD when Tikal became the greatest city in the Maya world with a population of perhaps 100,000.
     Like Maya complexes on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Tikal fell into decline at the end of the ninth century and was virtually abandoned. The causes of the Maya empire's collapse remain a mystery, but wars, famine, overpopulation and resource depletion have all been blamed.
   Tikal's great stone monuments languished for centuries and were gradually reclaimed by the jungle. Hernan Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, and his motley band of conquistadors marched by Tikal in 1525, but they failed to see its temples concealed by 40-metre-tall silk, cotton, cedar and mahogany trees.

Facts about Tikal

  • Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites in MesoamericaMesoamerica is the term used for Mexico and Central America before the Spanish conquered it in the 1500s. The Mayans ruled Mesoamerica, and today the ruins of their kingdoms are found in Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico. Tikal was considered a Maya superpower and covers an area of 575.83 square kilometres.
  • It’s located deep in the Guatemalan rainforest, Tikal sits in the Peten department of Guatemala, deep within one of Central America’s largest rainforests. Tikal National Park was created in 1966 and was the first protected area in Guatemala.
  • Tikal became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1979As well as being declared a UNESCO world heritage site, Tikal was also the first place to be named a Human Heritage site due to its archaeological and ecological significance.
  • Tikal was the Mayan capitalTikal was the beating heart of the Mayan empire and ruled most of Mesoamerica politically, economically and militarily. By 600 AD it had a sports stadium, a school and a hospital. It also had a library packed with thousands of books. Today only four Mayan books still exist.
  • Its peak population was almost 100,000While we can’t be entirely sure of the size of the population of Tikal, during the classic Mayan period it’s believed that the population was between 50,000 and 100,000 people. Most experts agree that the figure is at the top end of this range, making Tikal one of the biggest cities of its time.
  • Tikal was the basis for ApocalpyptoTikal was used as a model for Mel Gibson’s Mayan epic film Apocalypto. However, the film was set during the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors – in the 1500s – at which time cities like Tikal no longer existed.
  • It’s an archeological wonderThe buildings of Tikal are made from limestone and include the remains of royal palaces, houses, administrative buildings, platforms and inscribed stone monuments. There are also several temples and pyramids ranging in size, but the tallest is the 70ft Temple IV (although the Mayans called it the Temple of the Two Headed Snake). Visitors to Tikal can climb to the top of the temple and enjoy unrivalled views of the park, with the tops of pyramids peeking through the rainforest canopy.
  • Human sacrifice probably occurred hereRitual human sacrifice was practiced by the Mayans, and documentation of sacrifice has been found at Tikal. Sacrifice with bow and arrow is depicted with graffiti upon the walls of Tikal Temple II; another structure depicts a human sacrifice bound to a stake being disemboweled.
  • It was used for farming as far back as 1000 BCTraces of early farming and agriculture have been found at Tikal that go back to 1000 BC. A collection of Mayan pottery and ceramics were found in a sealed burial chamber here that dates back to around 700 BC.
  • No one knows for certain what caused its demiseAfter existing for over a thousand years, by 900 AD Tikal had been abandoned. How such a large settled thrived for so long yet suddenly became undone has been the topic of debate for many years, and even today we don’t know for certain what caused Tikal’s demise. However, most researchers put it at least partly down to drought and deforestation.

PHOTO GALLERY - Tikal