El Tajín - Pyramid of the Niches

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all four sides with a row of relatively shallow niches, square in shape and surrounded by a projecting stone "frame". The niches total 365 in all, symbolising the days of the year. At first it was thought they were intended to house figures, but archaeologists now believe their purpose was simply decorative. At one time the entire structure was clad in polychrome stucco, even the niches being painted in bright colours. The intention may perhaps have been to create a mystical effect using the interplay of light and shade. Up either side of the 10 m (33 ft)-wide stairway run broad alfardas (lateral balustrades) with a decorative stone mosaic of meandering fret design. The centre-line of the stairway is interrupted by five platforms, regularly spaced, each having three smaller niches. The stairway was a later, and almost certainly purely functional, addition.

From the plaza a track runs northwards to the Plaza El Tajín Chico in the least ancient part of the city. Here the architecture is rather more Mayan in character, with roof-combs, columned entrances and corbel vaulting.