I chose the ancient site of Bonampak to research. Bonampak is from the Mayan Empire and is in present day Chiapas, Mexico. The name Bonampak means “Painted Walls.” Bonampak is in the middle of the Lacandona jungle. It is close to another famous site called Yaxchilan. This ancient site is also close to a part of the Usumacinta River.
This site was discovered by two American travelers. Their names were Herman Charles Frey and John Bourne. This occurred in 1946. They found this ancient site because the local Lacandon Mayans still go there to worship. After Bonampak was discovered, Giles Healey, a photographer, was shown a big painting that filled a whole wall. These paintings tell many stories and are important.
These famous paintings are in, what is called, the Temple of the Murals. This place has three rooms in a long and narrow building. After Giles Healey discovered these paintings, an expedition was sent by the Carnegie Institution to explore the paintings. There was a documentary done in 1996 by Yale University, exploring the interesting paintings. The murals date back to 790 and the three rooms show real events.
The first room is about the people such as the priests, nobles, children, and an orchestra. The second room has a war scene shown with prisoners in it. The third room has a scene of dancers with costumes. The technique used to paint these murals was called fresco. There were three steps to this: an outline over stucco, the spaces were filled with paint, and the shapes were outlined with black. When finished, the paintings were beautiful and amazing.
Bonampak today is a tourist attraction, but it is hard to get to. It is far away from other sites, and the pictures are not as visible as they used to be. Now there is no flash photography in the Temple of Murals. If people would like to see the murals, they can go to the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City. I think that Bonampak would be a very cool place to visit. I think it would be interesting to see the ancient murals and building.
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