Mayan Art Architecture Essay

Art for the Mayans was a reflection of their lifestyle and culture. For the Mayans fine r usage took several forms including painting paper, plaster, carvings in wood and store, clay, stucco models, and terra cotta figurines from molds. Metal was re aloney scarce and so it wasnt jetly used.Mayan Art during the period, 200 to 900 has been considered the closely sophisticated and beautiful of the New World. There is few remaining Mayan Art, which includes funerary pottery, ceramics, a building in Bonampak (which is around Chiapas, Mexico), has several murals.What is interesting is that Mayan finesse gave al roughly free reign to the artist. The artist was not required to have a bun in the oven off a work that fit any bulgeicular rules. The art unremarkably didnt depict anonymous priests and unnamed Gods. Some archaeologists believe that art was only produced by the wealthy. around of the people who lived were farmers who had to work hard to line a living. It is presumed tha t virtu alto nonplushery of the art was done by sons of kings, and the artworks do were presumption as gifts or sold to other wealthy lan tidy sumers. An interesting situation is that Mayans were one of the few civilizations that the artists signed their name to their work.ARCHITECTUREThe Mayan architecture is the order the men spoke to the gods. The first Mayan pyramid was said to be strengthened in Uaxatan, Guatemala, just before the birth of Christ.The Mayan architecture is one of the just about recognizable. Each pyramid was dedicated to a deity whose shrine was at the peak. At the lift of the Mayan civilization, cities like Chichen Itza, Tikal, Uxmal were created.URBAN DESIGNMayan cities were spread all throughout Mesoamerica. Locations of cities werenot planned to a great extent. In fact, most cities seem to be placed haphazardly. The Mayans easily adapted their cities to their surroundings. Cities that were in Yankee Yucatan existed on flat limestone plains, while c ities built in the mountains or on hills such as, Usumacinta, used the topography to raise their towers and tabernacles genuinely high.At the centre of all Mayan cities were large eyes, which held g everyplacenmental and religious buildings such as the pyramid temples and ball-courts.Although it seems that most planning was done in a haphazard manner, the Mayans placed very special attention to the directional orientation of temples and observatories. They were always constructed in ossification with Maya interpretation of the orbits of the stars.Outside of ritual centers were the formation of lesser nobles, bittyer temples, and person shrines. These less spiritual structures had much more privacy. Outside of the urban heart and soul were the less permanent and modest homes of common people. In essence, it was the most sacred and noble buildings in the centre and the further one got from the center the refuse of importance the dwelling was in the Mayan hierarchy.In the class ic Era the Mayans focus on great monuments (such as temples), public plazas. Interior Space was exclusively secondary. In the later-post classic era the Greater Mayan cities developed into more fortress-like defensives structures that lacked plazas.The Mayans in reality developed several unique building innovations, including the corbel arch which was a false arch achieved by stepping each successive block, from opposite sides, close at hand(predicate) to the center, and capped at the peak.MATERIALSThe Mayans lacked many construction technologies. They didnt have surface tools, pulleys, and even the wheel or at least they didnt use the wheel as a means to help in work. Mayan architecture was based on manpower. Allstone was taken from local quarries, and they broadly speaking used limestone. It wasnt only used because there was an abundance of it yet because it was easy to be worked with. The mortar generally consisted of crushed, burnet, and mixed limestone that is similar t o cement, and it gave a stucco finishing.PROCESSThe King or priests would supervise the labour of the common people. The peasants would work on the construction projects as a method acting to pay homage to the king and the state, and the construction typically took place when they were unable to do their agricultural work. The laboureres would carry loads of materials on their backs of roll them on logs to get them from the source, usually a quarry, to the site.The Mayans also had specialized workers such as architects who would deal the construction of the buildings.STYLEMayan architects did not build in right angles. They relied on bilateral symmetry meaning if you were to cut the building right down the middle, each half would look like a mirror check of the other side. They would also build temples on top of temples. This is one method on how they made some pyramids so large.COMMON STRUCTURESCeremonial PlatformsThese were made of limestone, and less than 4 meters in height. Pu blic ceremonies and religious rites were performed here. The buildings were often bracing by carved figures, altars and sometimes a tzompantli. A tzompantly is a sake used to display the heads of victims, or defeated Ball game opponents. The denomination comes from the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs, however,it has been applied to many other civilizations. The general interpretation is skull frustrate or wall of skulls.PalacesNeedless to verbalize, palaces were large and highly decorated. They were usually regain at the center of the city and housed the citys elite. Often, they were one-story and consisted of many small chambers and at least one courtyard. Sometimes, palaces were home to various tombs.E-groups heretofore a mystery today. The appeared on the western side of a plaza and they are a pyramid temple facing three little temples across the plaza. Some believe that these E-Groups are observatories due to precise locating of the sun through the small temples when viewed during solsites and equinioxes.Pyramids and templesMost religious temples say atop very high Maya Pyramids one theory stating that it was the closest place to the heavens. Most temples had a roof comb which is a superficial grandiose wall, they say the temples served as a type of propaganda. It was very occasional that these walls would exceed the height of the jungle. The roof combs would be carved with representations of rulers that could be seen from vast distances. Beneath the temple were a series of platforms split by steep stairs that would lay off access to the temple.ObservatoriesThe Maya were very intelligent people, and they were keen astronomers, they had mapped out phases of planets. The method they learned about this is through their observatories. The Mayans had these round temples, often dedicated to Quetzalcoatl or what they cal guide him Kukulcan, and if you go on tours many guides will say that they are observatories but realisticallythere is no evidence to pro ve this.Ball CourtsAn integral part to any Mesoamerican lifestyle. This inst specific to just the Mayans but to fundamentally every Mesoamerican civilization. Enclosed on two sides by stepped ramps that led to the platforms. The ball court was found in all but the smallest of Mayan cities. bill of The GameIt was the first team sport in history and began over 3,500 years ago. The game wasnt just for competition, the survival of the players and the spectators depended on the outcome.