Mysteries of the World:
The fantastic side of science

The Pyramid at Chitzen-Itza

Every year on the 21st of March and on the 21st of September, during sunset and sunrise respectively, the sun casts an array of light and shadow triangles on the pyramid of Chitzen Itza in Mexico. These shadows fall exactly on the edge of the stairs, thereby documenting the appearance and return of the Maya god Kukulcan for the rest of time.

The Mayan pyramids have not been built because the Mayans "needed" these structures. These pyramids and temples were built because the calendar required that every 52 years a predetermined number of steps had to be built on a given structure. Every stone therefore a direct correlation to the calendar, the most precise in the world.

We will bring the pyramid of Chitzen-Itza to the theme park. Through the model, visitors will be able to experience how bands of light and shadow alternate their way up and down the wide steps due to the movement of the Earth's rotation.

And new questions will arise at Mysteries of the World:

• Why did an entire nation, around 600 A.D., all of a sudden and without any reason abandon these solid cities which had been built with much hardship?

To make the answer not too easy for you:

• No traces of warlike quarrels have been found among the Mayans.Likewise, no circumstantial evidence of a change in climate or an epidemic has been found.