Chichén Itzá
Ancient site
A Maya city with a pyramid that works as a calendar.
Chichén Itzá was one of the great cities of the Maya, in what is now Mexico. It was at its height roughly a thousand years ago.
In the middle stands a pyramid 30 metres high. Its four stairways have 91 steps each. Add the platform on top and you get 365: one for every day of the year.
- steps, one per day
- 365
- high
- 30 m
- years old, roughly
- 1,000
- 1
Twice a year, when day and night are equally long, the sun casts a shadow on the stairs that looks like a snake sliding down.
- 2
Clap your hands at the foot of the stairs and the echo sounds like a bird chirping.
- 3
The Maya played a ball game here on a court 168 metres long.
Question 1 of 2
Why does the pyramid have 365 steps?
- TikalA city of the Maya in the jungle of Guatemala, with temples that rise above the trees.
- MississippiThe great river that runs down the middle of the United States.
- TeotihuacanA city of pyramids so old that even the Aztecs did not know who built it.
- Panama CanalA shortcut for ships between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
It is in Mexico.
Read about Mexico