Many of the carvings at Xichen Itza were also originally painted. Here, you can see some of the original colors of red, gold and turquoise. This is one of the original, pure Mayan structures built near 400 AD, prior to the merger of the Mayan and Toltec civilizations.
The Mayans were great sportsmen and built huge ballcourts to play their games, which were, to them, far more than a game. They were part of their religious rituals. Each end of The Great Ballcourt of Xichen Itza has a raised "temple" area. A whisper from one end can be heard clearly at the other end 545 feet away. The sound waves are unaffected by wind direction or time of day or night. In 1931, Leopold Stokowski spent four days at the site to determine the acoustic principles such that he could apply them to open-air concert theaters. To this day, this acoustic marvel remains to be replicated.
