El Tajín
| Prehistoric city El Tajín |
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UNESCO world heritage 
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| El Tajín |
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| National territory: |
 Mexico
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| Type: | Culture |
| Criteria : | iii, iv |
| Reference No .: | 631 |
| UNESCO region : | Latin America and the Caribbean |
| History of enrollment | |
| Enrollment: | 1992 (session 16) |
El Tajín ( Spanish -Totonakian "The Lightning") is a pre-Columbian ruined city near the east coast of Mexico near the city of Papantla , southeast of Poza Rica de Hidalgo in the state of Veracruz . This was probably temporarily the capital of the Tachiwin ( Aztec Totonaks), has several large, pyramidal stepped temples and was abandoned 800 years ago. The Tajín culture was named after her.
history
The city was founded in the 1st century BC. BC probably founded by the Totonaks , who presumably also used them as the capital. El Tajin was dedicated to the god of wind, Huracán , and lightning, Tajín , after whom the city was named. The heyday was from 700 AD to 900. Around 1200 the site was abandoned again. It is believed that the Toltecs ruled El Tajín for a while.
Culture and buildings
The most important pyramid is the so-called niche pyramid (Piramide de los Nichos).
It is 25 m high and 1225 m². The pyramid has 365 niches, which is most likely to symbolize a solar year . El Tajín is also known for its cultural ball game , which may have ended with human sacrifices . In this game, the teams (the number of players is not known; there are illustrations showing a total of four people) had to throw the ball with their hips into a high ring. This ball was a hard rubber ball, which is why the players also wore a large belt, of which there are stone images. It is believed that either the loser or the winner was subsequently beheaded , although it is clear that the ritual sacrifice was considered a great honor at the time. Today there are still 10 ball courts. The best known is the Juego de Pelota Sur with a length of 60 m.
This ritual was once only performed on certain feast days, in honor of the gods of fertility, such as Tlazoltéotl and Xipe Totec . In other pre-Columbian cities, too, there were ritual ball playgrounds near the temple complexes, for example in Tikal (Guatemala).
Los Voladores
Even today an ancient fertility ritual of the Totonaks, the Danza del Volador, is shown several times a day in El Tajín . Four men (voladores) symbolize the four winds, a fifth man is the symbol of the sun.
The four men dance towards the trunk. They greet the trunk and circle it several times. Then the four winches go to the top of the trunk.
The fifth is the last to climb to the top of the trunk as the sun . He sits down to the east and begins to play with a snare drum and a flute, while the four winches twist the rope around his abdomen. The sun now greets the four cardinal points with its game. She turns to these one by one and dances on top. Then the four winds slowly descend upside down with 13 turns to the earth. The sun plays the drum and flute during this time. After the four winds have reached the earth, the sun descends on the trunk or over one of the ropes on the earth.
This ritual was used to prepare young men between 20 and 25 years of age. A week before the ritual, the Voladores went looking for a suitable tree. Before the felling, they danced in his honor and asked permission for the felling. Only then was the tree felled with great care so as to cause as little pain as possible. The selected tree trunk had to be at least 25 m high and the length of the rope measured precisely so that the four flying voladores could reach exactly 13 circles around the trunk, which symbolized a period of 52 (4x13) years.
The clothing of the Voladores is still red trousers, a white shirt, a red ribbon around the hips and a feather headdress.
today
In 1785 the site was rediscovered by Diego Ruiz, after the Spaniards had probably already been there in the 16th century. In the early 19th century, Guillermo Dupaix , Alexander von Humboldt (1811) and Carl Nebel visited El Tajín. The first excavations took place in 1934. Less than a quarter of the site has been excavated to date.
In 1992 El Tajín became a UNESCO World Heritage Site .
On March 30, 2015, the memorial was included in the International Register of Cultural Property under the special protection of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict .
See also
Web links
- Entry on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- http://www.manos-de-oaxaca.com/afrocaribe/ac_el-taj.htm
Individual evidence
- ↑ International Register of Cultural Property under Special Protection. UNESCO, July 23, 2015, accessed June 2, 2016 .
Heritage: Historic Center of Mexico City and Xochimilco (1987) | Pre-Columbian City and National Park of Palenque (1987) | Pre-Columbian city of Teotihuacán (1987) | Old town of Oaxaca and ruins of Monte Albán (1987) | Historic Center of Puebla (1987) | Guanajuato Historic Center and Mines (1988) | Pre-Columbian city of Chichén Itzá (1988) | Old Town of Morelia (1991) | Pre-Columbian city of El Tajín (1992) | Old town of Zacatecas (1993) | Rock carvings in the Sierra de San Francisco (1993) | Monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl (1994) | Pre-Columbian city of Uxmal (1996) | Querétaro monument ensemble (1996) | Cabañas Hospice in Guadalajara (1997) | Monument area of Tlacotalpan (1998) | Archaeological sites of Paquimé in Casas Grandes (1998) | Xochicalco Archaeological Site (1999) | Historic city and fortress of Campeche (1999) | Franciscan Missions in the Sierra Gorda (2003) | Luís Barragán's house and studio (2004) | Agave landscape and historical tequila production sites (2006) | University campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (2007) | Fortified town of San Miguel de Allende and the pilgrimage church of Jesús de Nazareno in Atotonilco (2008) | Camino Real de Tierra Adentro (2010) | Prehistoric caves of Yagul and Mitla in the Oaxaca Valley (2010) | Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque (2015)
Natural heritage: Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (1987) | El Vizcaíno lagoon - whale shelter (1993) | Islands and Protected Areas in the Gulf of California (2005) | Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve (2008) | El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve (2013) | Revillagigedo Archipelago (2016)
Cultural / natural heritage: Mayan city of Calakmul and tropical rainforests in Campeche (2002)