The Architecture of El Pilar

Although less than a master-planned city. El Pilar has a coherent order exhibiting a constructed logic usual to most Maya centers (Robertson 1963)(. The Maya architects who built El Pilar, over the course of twelve centuries, used cultural notions of the proper use of orientation, form and space that resulted in the ordered "plan" existing today. This process has been called urban design to distinguish it from urban planning (Hardoy 1964).

El Pilar beautifully illustrates the two primary ideas of Maya urban design, axis and enclosure. The axis is an elementary ordering principle in architecture and is simply an imaginary line between two points about which forms and spaces can be arranged. As it is a linear condition, axial planning induces movement and views along its path (Ching 1979). Enclosure is perhaps the strongest form of spatial definition and can be used to define the flow and use of space.

Plaza C and D in the eastern section of El Pilar are excellent examples of axial ordering (FIG. 4). The main entrance to Plaza C is from Plaza D via a large staircase. Plaza C is large (100 X 150 meters) and flanked by successive pairs of structures ending in an imposing staircase and landing on structure EP3. The lines of view are impressive and the wide staircases and plazas are inviting to the public. Symmetry cannot exist without and axis and the Maya used axial planning to create lines about which to build symmetrical structures. Bilateral symmetry, or mirror symmetry, appears to have been the norm. Most of the structures at El Pilar possess bilateral symmetry and possibly a few exhibit rarely found radial symmetry.

A combination of enclosure and axial planning can be observed in the northern plazas of eastern El Pilar, plazas F, G, I, and the acropolis or H'mena. An axial line is established through the center of the stairs leading from plaza F to G, G to I, and from I up to the top of the H'mena. This axis splits the plazas in two, for the most part symmetrical, halves. Going north from plaza F the spaces grow more enclosed. Plaza F is quite open and has many exits while Plaza G is completely inclosed with on the axial stairways in and out. Plaza I also contains just the two stairways, but appears even more enclosed than G because of the height of the buildings surrounding it. The H'mena is completely enclosed and has but one way in and out.

These plazas also admirably exhibit the use of the ordering principle of hierarchy through elevation. It can be safely assumed that the more enclosed and restricted an area is the more private and exclusive it will be. The walk to the H'mena from plaza F is one of increasing enclosure, restriction and of elevation. From the top of the H'mena a palacelike maze of rooms commands a view of all of El Pilar and the surrounding area. Suggestions are that many Maya sites were enclosed gradually throughout the Classic period (von Falkenhausen 1985).

George Andrews postulated that the ancient Maya used a set of four basic building groupings of distinctive characteristics to build their cities (Andrews 1975). These four are: the temple, quadrangle, palace and acropolis groupings. These forms exist within a range of variation, but seem to occur with great frequency.

The temple group is usually characterized by a group of two temples or three temples with an auxiliary building. The structure groups in plazas A, C, G and conceivably, west Pilar, could be temple groupings. Plazas G and I are excellent examples of the quadrangle, which can be any group of buildings forming a complete enclosure around a courtyard. The H'mena matches the description of a palace group, and, with the addition of G, and I, also forms an acropolis group.

Before leaving the architecture of El Pilar some mention should be made of its alignment. It has been determined that one guiding principle of Maya architecture may have been the alignment of structures with one of three possible options: 1) alignment with another, more important center, 2) alignment with astronomical landmarks and phenomena, or 3) alignment using geomagnetics (Fuson 1969; Carlson 1977; Aveni and Hartung 1982). Notably, most of the structures at El Pilar tested to date appear to have similar alignments within approximately 8 degrees east of magnetic north. Future research will require detailed testing for alignments if this preliminary data is to be confirmed.

Two important structures, EP7 and EP10, face each other across plaza C to the east and west (FIG. %). Here also, further study is needed to see if these two form what has been characterized as a Group E (Ruppert 1940). The Group E pattern of structures appears to have comparable astronomical significance found in many Lowland sites. Like the original Group E at Uaxactun, EP10 is a large bilaterally symmetrical temple facing east toward EP7 that in turn is composed of a large platform supporting a central temple and two flanking structures. The general picture is one of multiple examples of this known type grouping but each seems to have a different alignment, which rules out the possibility that they were used for making a common set of astronomical observations (Andrews 1975).