TEMPLE OF NICHES - EL TAJIN
Veracruz, MEXICO
El Tajín is a pre-Columbian archeological site in southern Mexico and is one of the largest and most important cities of the Classic era of Mesoamerica. A part of the Classic Veracruz culture, El Tajin flourished from 600 to 1200 C.E. and during this time numerous temples, palaces, ballcourts, and pyramids were built.
El Tajin was named a World Heritage site in 1992, due to its cultural importance and its architecture. This architecture includes the use of decorative niches and cement in forms unknown in the rest of mesoamerica. Its best-known monument is the Pyramid of the Niches. Since the 1970s, El Tajin has been the most important archeological site in Veracruz for tourists.
This pyramid has as a number of names including, El Tajín, Pyramid of Papantla, Pyramid of the Seven Stories and the Temple of the Niches. It is unclear who built the city. Some argue in favor of the Totonacs and the Xapaneca, however, there is a significant amount of evidence that the area was populated by the Huastec at the time the settlement was founded.
