Almost all these features derive directly from Tula which, in its turn, had inherited them from the civilizations of Teotihuacan, Tajin and the Zapotecs. Thus Mayan-Toltec art can be described as truly Mexican; for it reflects a great unifying movement in which the widely diverse currents of various pre-Columbian cultures met and fused.

In earlier Mayan architecture, columns, either monolithic or comprised of several drums, had been used successfully to widen doorways which were otherwise restricted in size by their stone lintels, but the column was never regarded as an adequate support for the vault itself, and it never served to attain larger space within the building. It was the architects of the later period at Chichén Itzá who first fully realized the advantages of the principle of concentrated support, and by its application created a new type of structure with interiors no longer limited in width to a single span. Using the column as a structural support, the builders spanned rooms with several parallel vaults, permitting free circulation inside and providing ample lighting from the colonnaded façade. And, the use of a wooden lintel allowed a span large enough to make construction spacious, less cluttered, and more practical.

Thus, the Mayan-Toltec fusion also marks a fundamental change in building technology. Up to this point Mayan architecture had been outward looking. But here, in the Temple of the Warriors, we have a building designed to be utilized on the inside.

Click here for more about the Temple of the Warriors.

Photo ©Anne Irving.