Fresco in Structure 1 at Bonampak, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.
About this photograph
Original Photo © 2004 Jacob Rus Photoshop lighting adjustment by Stephen McCluskey.
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The settlement of Bonampak is located in the Mexican state of Chiapas. It appears to archaeologists that the buildings on this site were built between 580 and 800 as part of a small Mayan settlement with dependent ties to Yaxchilan, a larger site further north.
At Bonampak there are a few medium-sized temples and well carved stelae located around a plaza. This picture is from Structure 1, also called The Temple of the Murals. Structure 1 is a low-stepped pyramid consisting of three rooms at the top; these rooms contain some of the best preserved Mayan paintings.
These frescoes date from 790 and are seamless. It is their seamlessness that leads to the belief that they were each painted in single sessions, as frescoes are typically painted while the plaster is wet in order to bind the paint to the surface.
A full-scale reproduction of the temple is housed at the National Museum of Anthropology & History in Mexico City.
