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tj Hoffman | all galleries >> travel_adventures >> Viva Yucatán! >> Chichén Itzá >> Las Monjas, or The Nunnery Complex > La Iglesia with Roof Comb
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Late Classic Period A.D. 600-900

La Iglesia with Roof Comb

A small top-heavy structure in the Puuc Maya style.

The so called La Iglesia [the church] was one of many Maya structures named by the Spanish explorers and priests after similar constructs in Spain.

Above the medial moulding is a heavy entablature in the form of rain-god masks in stone. At the top is a high roof comb,decorated with yet three more Chaac rain god masks

The Maya roof comb was a lattice of stone added despite the height of the temple-pyramids.
Perhaps Maya architects didn't feel the temples were grand enough, and so added an upper extension.


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