Copan Ruins in COPAN, HONDURAS

A Brief Overview

The Copan Ruins are located in the western part of Honduras, about 60 kilometers from the border with Guatemala. Copan - known as Xukpi to the Maya - was the dominant Mayan city in the south of their territory. Its rich stone sculptures and intricate hieroglyphs make Copan a feature attraction along 'La Ruta Maya'.

Ruins in Copan Honduras

The Principal Group of attractions in Copan consists of five basic areas of interest:

The Acropolis - Divided in two big plazas: the west court and east court. The west court houses temple 11 and temple 16 with altar Q set at its base. Temple 11 was built as a portal to the other world. Temple 16 sits in between the east and west court; it was built on top of a previous temple without damaging it. Altar Q depicts the 16 members of the Copan Dynasty.

The Tunnels - Archeologists have dug 4km of tunnels under the acropolis to view earlier stages of Copan civilization. Two of the tunnels are open to the public for an additional fee.
In Copan we combine a modern ambiance with a legendary past. The Mayan culture, one of the most important in America, flourished in the western part of Honduras, leaving many different costumes and traditions which can be traced to long times past.

The majority of arqueologists, agree that Copan formed part of the three largest and most lavish cultural centers of the new world. The Mayas developed a civilization based on a complex sociopolitical structure; at the same time they incurred, with amazing dexterity, in the fields of science, mathematics and astronomy. They also developed a writting system based on hieroglyphs, which enabled the interpretation by epigraphs of not only contribution made in this disciplines to shed light on aspects of their historic evolution.

Equally impressive is Mayas art which is evidenced in the careful planing of their ceremonial centers, their arquitecture based on the constructions of scaled graded pyramids, their sculpture, which keeps well today on their altars and historical monuments, the remains painted murals and the beauty of their work in jade, ceramic and stone.

Copan, considered by many one of the most spectacular city's of the ancient Mayas civilization, is situated in the southwestern part of the Mayas region. It flourished during the 7th century of our era and is representative today of what Athens, to the old world; the cradle of its civilization. Because of this and other reason, UNESCO declared it a world heritage site in 1980.

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