State of Campeche

Chicanná (the house of the snake jaws) stands only a few kilometres away from the larger site of Becán, to the south of the Xpuhil-Escárcega highway. 

History

Culture: Río Bec Maya

The history of Chicanná is considered largely the same as for Becán, although their roles may well have been different. While Becán served as an administrative capital, Chicanná's buildings are much smaller and more finely decorated; it has been conjectured that it was once an elite quarter of the Río Bec superstate.

For more about other Río Bec Maya cities, see Cultural History.

Tour  (Scroll down to follow complete tour, or click on feature below and use your BACK key to return to the map)

Chicanná's buildings are separated by stretches of jungle, but a path links them all.

The fairly long path from the site entrance turns into a fork. We will take the right path that brings us at length to Structure XX, architecturally the most interesting at the site. It is a two-storey, finely decorated, although partly eroded temple. An intricately carved doorway gives access to a sort of lobby area from which several downstairs rooms can be obtained. At the back, a staircase goes up and splits, leading to two separate upper chambers. The upper portion of the temple is decorated with a zoomorphic monster mask, which has disintegrated in places.

The path leads away towards the main cluster of buildings at Chicanná. To the right, we see a separate building known as Structure XI. It is in a less than adequate condition; some believe it to be one of the oldest in the whole Río Bec region. Two decorated, but damaged front walls stand on either side of a doorway giving access to a series of ruined rooms.

We turn our attention to the connected group of buildings behind us spaced around the Main Plaza. First, on the left, we see the largest building at Chicanná, Structure I. This is of classic Río Bec design. Two crumbling false towers flank a series of doorways leading to three rows of non-connecting rooms. There are remains of impossible steps on the sides of the towers which were only ever meant to be decorative. The temple entrances contain stone friezes of a typical Río Bec theme.

To the right of this is Structure III, a low, ruined platform. There is a small pyramidal construction on the east side annexed to a small palace-like area fronted by a row of short columns.

On the east side of the Main Plaza is what many consider to be the highlight of the visit to Chicanná, Structure II. It is an exceptionally preserved one-storey temple of heavy, squarish design. Its attraction is the beautifully carved monster mask surrounding the central doorway, which is certainly the best preserved of its kind anywhere. Two eyes glare down above the entrance - the serpent's mouth - and fangs hang down from the lintel. The monster in question is Itzmaná, the central god of the Mayan pantheon. It has been conjectured that this monster mask temple in particular was the precursor to the later Chenes style of architecture, found in the north of Campeche.

From the southeast corner of the Main Plaza, another path will lead us to the final important building of this tour, Structure VI. It is set atop a low platform and is unique to this site in that the main temple is surmounted by a roof-comb. A nicely decorated facade flanks a doorway giving access to a series of ruined rooms.

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