Architecture

Palenque

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Palenque is both photogenic and filled with important hieroglyphics, describing the rulers who lived and were buried here, especially Pakal the Great, who ruled the city for most of the 600s. Even arriving at 8 am, the popular archaeological site already had a few bus loads of tourists, especially Europeans who are currently avoiding Mexico’s northern neighbor. Part of the jungle loop trail was blocked, so I didn’t see any monkeys or toucans, but I did see an agouti, which is a fairly big, long-legged rodent that’s critically endangered. I spent most of my time appreciating the various carved stone monuments on top of the palace above. The tower is an observatory, and beside it there’s a sunken courtyard memorializing defeated rivals.

It’s wonderful to see many important artifacts still on site, although many of the finest are in museums now. The ancient Mayan builders were skilled at vaulted ceilings, and I admired the stonework in the tomb of the Red Queen, whose sarcophagus is indeed colored red inside. Being able to step inside the pyramid at all is a rare treat, and, although Pakal’s tomb is closed, there’s a large replica at the Anthropology Museum in Mexico City. Many of the inscriptions—which reveal the royal history—are partially covered or off limits to preserve them, and considering the age and jungle atmosphere, the ones I saw were in remarkably good condition due to higher quality stone and innovative carving techniques. Most of the site is still covered by jungle, where new discoveries await.

Overall, Palenque is an excellent site, a mix of well-tended atmospheric grounds, grand architecture, historical importance, intricately detailed art, jungle ruins and active digs.

Chichén Itzá

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As they have for over one thousand years, vendors sell art, crafts, fabrics, jewelry, and more near the grand pyramid at Chichén Itzá. As usual, the experts downplay the role of merchants here, but since merchants are included in a number of the elaborate carvings here, they cannot be forgotten. One area is designated as a market, and it is likely that more of the buildings were also used for commerce. It must be remembered that the Mayans did not use the wheel much, so it wasn’t practical to move goods any more than necessary. Nobody wants to carry around large amounts of copper, jade and obsidian on their back. Except maybe thieves. One of the plaques mentioned that the roads may have included checkpoints, which again makes sense if you’re trying to protect your treasure from raiders.

The guides explain in great detail about the ball courts—including the largest in the Americas—, calendars, gods and temples, which is all interesting, but I wonder why they used to sacrifice humans by throwing them into their own drinking water supply. Even though the water is replenished by an underground river system, that wouldn’t be tasty or wise, even if you’re pre germ theory. Perhaps the most sacred cenotes were more ceremonial and were not always used for drinking water as some guides claim. It’s difficult to imagine a highly organized society thrived for centuries without strict rules.

Anyway, this is a magnificent UNESCO world heritage site with both many intricate details and grand structures, once protected from colonial excavation by a few centuries of jungle overgrowth. The Mayans used exceptionally durable stone and mortar here, conveying their sophisticated culture to us in sharp relief. Consider El Castillo—Kukulkán, the feathered serpent—below, with 91 steps per side, which chirp like a Quetzal in echo response, perfectly and artistically aligned with the solstices casting serpentine shadows, plus one step on top, making 365 steps to mark the year. For 2,000 years Native American people have marked the days with similar calendar accuracy, displaying their advanced mathematical literacy at the core of their accomplished civilization.

Colonial Mexico

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In February 1519, Hernán Cortés landed in Cozumel with 500 soldiers, founded the port city of Veracruz (below) and then arrived at the Aztec capital by year end. Allied with anti-Aztec rivals, and the populace stricken with smallpox, Cortez conquered Tenochtitlán in 1521. The earliest Spanish colonial world heritage site is now called Mexico City, then capital of New Spain, centered on the National Palace, Zócalo (plaza) and Metropolitan Cathedral all built on top of the Aztec ruins.

Close behind the conquistadors, missionaries began building thick-walled monasteries nearby on the volcanic slopes of Popocatepetl: the Franciscans in 1524, the Dominicans in 1526, and the Augustinians in 1533. Across New Spain, churches were built on top of native religious sites.

And native cities, some thousands of years old, were ‘founded’—reorganized—under Spanish rule. Aztec trading hubs and routes throughout Mexico became Spanish. The trading hub of Oaxaca, valued for high desert salt, was re-founded 1529. Puebla, between the capital, the monasteries, the port and Oaxaca, was founded in 1531. Another gulf port city, Campeche, was founded in 1540, and later Tlacotalpan, a river port city was founded in 1550. Morelia, 1541, became an administrative center for commerce, including farming and ranching to the west. Each of these cities has UN-protected historic centers with colonial architecture arranged in grids. In 1555, an aqueduct was built north of the Capital, applying Roman technology to the ‘new’ world.

As silver mines were built in the north, wealth began being extracted at scale. Querétaro in 1531, San Miguel de Allende in 1542, Zacatecas in 1546 and Guanajuato in 1554 all reflect the opulence of silver dug by enslaved native workers. Besides admiring the marvelous architecture and world class art museums, I recommend touring a silver mine. Silver flowed for centuries, especially from around 1600, along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the old trading trading route to El Paso.

In 1565, Spanish galleon trade opened across the Pacific between Manila and Acupulco, and the traders introduced improvements to native methods to distill blue agave. Taking advantage of a law change in 1595, liquor production boomed in Tequila.

The Franciscans were still building monasteries over a century later, and in the 1750s, a newly arrived Father Junípero Serra oversaw the construction of several beautiful missions in the remote Serra Gorda regions, which are well preserved.

The Spanish colonial rule over New Spain lasted 300 years, from the conquest of Tenochtitlán to the end of the War of Independence. Visiting the world heritage sites that preserve this history in Mexico is a fascinating and rewarding journey. Especially for Americans considering Europe, this a great way to tour great Spanish colonial cathedrals and historic cities without burning carbon to fly over the Atlantic.

Tlacotalpan

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Locals proudly call themselves Los Jarochos, which refers to the cowboys, the music and dance style in this farming & ranching area south of Veracruz city. I passed several sugar cane wagon trains while driving along the river, each one overloaded bumping along over more cane littering the road. Fortunately, I arrived Saturday afternoon on a holiday weekend, so the Papantla Fliers below were performing along with lots of festivities, interesting cocktails including shrimp, lots of vendors and folks setting up for more music on stages in the square.

While the volodores or fliers are UN recognized as intangible world heritage, the historic river port town center is designated a world heritage site for the Spanish colonial architecture with colorful arched colonnades lining the narrow old streets, some only wide enough for horses—which I saw several—and pedestrians. I had seafood in a riverside restaurant named for the locals, and they also served a strangely delicious soursop cocktail, which I enjoyed while watching the small boats go by and families spending time together. This is why I love travel.

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo’s Home-Study Museum

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Full disclosure: the three houses here were being renovated the week I was in Mexico City, and it is only on the tentative UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Architect & artist Juan O’Gorman had the complex built for the famous couple while they were touring in the US in 1931-32, and their patrons the Kaufmanns, of Fallingwater, visited the couple here in the upscale San Ángel neighborhood in 1938. The big house and studio in the front was Diego’s, the blue one was Frida’s, and O’Gorman lived in the third house in back. There’s a bridge between Diego & Frida’s homes. This arrangement worked for about 5 years, but then they divorced.

To be clear, Frida’s blue house above is not La Casa Azul, The Blue House, where Frida was born and died. That more famous one is in the Coyoacán neighborhood less than an hour’s walk away. Frida hosted Leon Trotsky there, after helping him get asylum, although he was ultimately assassinated in his home nearby (now a museum). Diego & Frida remarried and lived in her original home until her death, keeping the complex above as Diego’s studio. Diego Rivera donated Frida’s Casa Azul as a museum, and it’s one of the most visited sites in the city. Tickets to her home and museum are essential to buy online well in advance, as they recently stopped offering in person ticket sales.

Historic Center of Mexico City

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In the US, the Independence War means the same as the Revolutionary War, but in Mexico, they are two different wars. 100 years after Hidalgo cried out for Independence from Spain in 1810, the country was under the control of the dictator Porfirio Díaz, who ruled for 35 years over a growing gap between the elites and the masses. He commissioned the ostentatious building above to celebrate his rule, but it ended up celebrating the end of his rule after the Revolution of 1910-1920. Since the common people were uneducated, the new era of called for artists to paint huge public murals to tell the story of Mexico. The three great muralists were Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco. All three have murals on permanent exhibit on the oversized second floor inside. Siqueiros uses stunning, clear images to depict the drama of human suffering and bondage. Orozco contrasts vivid lives with cold modern weapons. And Diego Rivera presents his profound understanding of social struggle, using historic figures, ancient images and modern allegories, to awaken people.

The historic center includes far more than one museum, but to appreciate it, you need to understand what’s buried beneath the metropolitan cathedral, grand government buildings and the huge public square. Once there was a lake ringed by volcanoes, and the Aztecs built an empire around an island, using landfill and bridges to create a moated city. Thousands of captured warriors were sacrificed publicly and walls of skulls have been uncovered. From this easily defended base, rich with food grown on floating gardens such as at Xochimilco, over 200,000 lived here, with a sophisticated canal system and extensive trading network. When Hernán Cortés arrived here in 1519, it was one of the largest cities in the world. After building boats and bringing in cannon, the besieged city fell, and the Spanish drained the lake, tore down the temples to make a cathedral, and paved the ruins of the temples and markets to make the huge, empty square Zócalo public space, where over 100,000 now gather to hear the President speak from the balcony of the National Palace or to listen to pop music stars perform. Begin in the Zócalo and take the walking tour to learn about the excavated Aztec ruins and much more in this fascinating, important and historic city center.

Aqueduct of Padre Tembleque

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OK, it’s not a solar eclipse, but this 450+ year old World Heritage Site is impressive. Only about 25 miles from the pyramids of Teotihuacán, this 16th century Franciscan Aqueduct carried fresh water from a volcano 30 miles over the countryside, underground and over the Papalote (kite) ravine above, with 120+ arches overall. If you approach from Mex 88 outside Santiago Tepeyahualco, there’s a short gravel drive to a parking area watched by local police, where the aqueduct begins. It’s easy to walk down to see the 125’+ high arch in the center, and it’s cooler if you stay in the shade of the Roman design. I wouldn’t recommend trying to drive further on the “roads” nearby, which are more like cow paths. There is a small rail line and a creek flowing under at the bottom, with a footpath built into the bottom of the arch for hikers to cross. There are a few other sections, but this is the most impressive.

Guggenheim

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This is a World Heritage site, not a park site. The Guggenheim Museum in NYC is Frank Lloyd Wright’s final masterpiece completed after his death. Solomon Guggenheim was a guest at Taliesin. I first saw the architectural plans at Taliesin West, where I also noticed a nautilus. And the structure also reminds me of the curved, descending covered walkway that connects Fallingwater to the hill. The circular ramp is iconic, and perusing an exhibit called Measuring Infinity while slowly descending is delightful.

Here are my visits to all parks in New York and all Wright heritage sites.

Monticello

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Jefferson’s entryway is like a science museum. The wind vane connects to a display on the ceiling outside, the clock connects to a series of weights that display the day of the week. The antlers on the wall show American megafauna, and the Native American artifacts represent various tribes. There’s a concave mirror which reflects your image upside down, and there are various maps, as one would expect from the sponsor of Lewis & Clark’s expedition. The rest of the house also includes various gadgets and experimental devices, so he apparently enjoyed being seen as a wizard.

To call the house symmetrical is an understatement. The other side also has columns, well, just look at the back of a nickel. There are long wing-like patios connecting outbuildings, a tunnel running the transverse length underneath, and a winding garden path. Monticello means ‘little hill’ in Italian, but the views are impressive. Jefferson used to peer down through his telescope at the University of Virginia, which he also designed and founded and which is also part of this World Heritage site.

Jefferson is unpopular today, due to his ownership and treatment of slaves, and today’s Monticello does an excellent job of describing the hard life of the hundreds of enslaved people who worked here. The house tour includes the slave tour, and the docents are knowledgeable and answer a whole range of difficult questions. DNA testing revealed many secrets of Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings—a child when it began—, and much more research has been done to unearth fascinating and desperate stories of slavery and a few of liberation. Jefferson knew slavery was wrong, and he had argued against it as a younger man. Some of his friends and colleagues freed their slaves and urged Jefferson to do the same, but with only a few exceptions, such as his own biracial children, he refused even in his will.

It is not wise to condemn the man entirely, however. If you believe that all men are created equal, that we all deserve freedom of religion without government interference, and many other American ideals, then you agree with Jefferson, who enshrined those ideals in our nation’s founding. We should hate the man for his racism and for perpetuating slavery instead of helping end it, but we should also admire his genius, as an architect, a revolutionary, and a renaissance man. Jefferson knew that the most memorable characters of the ancient classical ages all had tragic flaws that often destroyed them in the end, but that’s why we remember their stories—both good and evil—, to learn from them.

Here are my visits to all parks in Virginia.

Fallingwater

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As you may be able to tell from the folks walking through my photo, Fallingwater is popular. There were tours for about a dozen each running every few minutes constantly. The house and 1500 acres were donated by the client’s son. The reserve is now 5,000 acres in rural Pennsylvania. I ate lunch at Polymath Park, about 45 minutes away, where they have four Wright homes, a Treetop restaurant and even let a few lucky folks spend the night.

This World Heritage site may be Wright’s greatest private home, his masterpiece of organic architecture. The multilevel home and guesthouse are built over the Bear Run Falls and into the rocky hillside. Several steps descend into the creek, and there are pools for swimming, for enjoying the creek and even for washing up. Unsurprisingly, the home has had some leaks, water and flood damage, but overall the waxed stone floors, stone walls and stucco covered steel reinforced cantilevered structures retain their stunning appearance. The many patios extend out over the water providing myriad views while adding to the modern exterior design.

The Kaufmanns owned Pittsburgh’s premier department store and welcomed employees here to play tennis, swim and enjoy nature. They also collected art, and much of their collection is still here, including an original from their friend Diego Rivera, who visited here with Frieda Kahlo. Much of the furniture is original and designed by Wright. Instead of abstract, complicated, multicolored glass window designs, Wright used plain glass windows, but in fascinating ways, especially by running the glass all the way to the corner from two sides without any corner support. From across the creek below the house, there is a stacked column of such windows running between floors, and each opens to provide an exquisite series of views that descend like the falls from the small upstairs room to the creek. Iconic.

Here are my visits to all Wright UN sites and all parks in Pennsylvania.