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.
The Great Ball Court of Xichen Itza measures 545 feet long by 225 feet wide overall. While the floor of the ballcourt has now all but grown over with grass, a few patches remain where we can still see the original tile floor.
