Chalchuapa
Encyclopedia
Chalchuapa is a town and a municipality
located in the Santa Ana
department
of El Salvador
. The city of Chalchuapa is in a wide valley at 650 meters above sea level, and watered by the Pampe River.
It also possesses an old-fashioned church of pure colonial style. It is a beautiful architectonic jewel consecrated to the patron of the city of Santiago Apostol whose lyric representation crowns the dome of the Catholic Church on a horseback.
Chalchuapa, which in Nahuatl means 'Río de Jadeitas' or Jade's River, was the most remarkable emporium of the civilization of the Pok'omames, town of the Mayan-quiche or Mayan family.
It also constitutes some of the most important archaeological areas of the country, with five ceremonial centers: Tazumal, Pampe, Trapiche, Casa Blanca, and Las Victorias; also, Cuzcachapa Lagoon. These Pre-Columbine vestiges are scattered in an area of 6 square km.
The ruins of Tazumal
include a main pyramidal structure of 23 meters height (the inferior structures are still buried) located in a block and forming two truncated pyramids to the west. It has eight pilasters with chiseled figures. Northernmost, there are other complex constructions and a memorial dance grounds with ladders. The 'Ball Game' field, almost totally destroyed, used to be located in the current cemetery area.
In the western flank of Ku or Teocali, there is a monolith carved in basaltic rock called “Estela de Tazumal” of 2.65 meters height and 1.16 meters wide. It represents a richly adorned character, showing on the side hieroglyphical inscriptions that are possibly chronological, but different from the classical of the Mayan culture.
Municipality
A municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
located in the Santa Ana
Santa Ana Department
Santa Ana is a department of El Salvador in the northwest of the country. The capital is Santa Ana.- General information :It has 2,023 km² and a population of over 600,000. This department was created on February 8, 1855...
department
Departments of El Salvador
||A list of the departments of El Salvador in alphabetical order.Department :# Ahuachapán # Cabañas # Chalatenango # Cuscatlán # La Libertad # La Paz...
of El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
. The city of Chalchuapa is in a wide valley at 650 meters above sea level, and watered by the Pampe River.
Overview
It is settled 15 kilometers west from Santa Ana city, in the valley of, Cuscachapa. The 'El Trapiche' pool is in the countryside of the city, filled with fresh and transparent waters; and the Mayan structure of Casa Blanca, which exhibits the immortal rock over where General Justo Rufino Barrios from Guatemala was fatally wounded and murdered in the bloody battle of April 2, 1885.It also possesses an old-fashioned church of pure colonial style. It is a beautiful architectonic jewel consecrated to the patron of the city of Santiago Apostol whose lyric representation crowns the dome of the Catholic Church on a horseback.
Chalchuapa, which in Nahuatl means 'Río de Jadeitas' or Jade's River, was the most remarkable emporium of the civilization of the Pok'omames, town of the Mayan-quiche or Mayan family.
It also constitutes some of the most important archaeological areas of the country, with five ceremonial centers: Tazumal, Pampe, Trapiche, Casa Blanca, and Las Victorias; also, Cuzcachapa Lagoon. These Pre-Columbine vestiges are scattered in an area of 6 square km.
The ruins of Tazumal
Tazumal
Tazumal is a Pre-Columbian Maya archeological site in Chalchuapa, El Salvador. Tazumal means, "the place where the victims were burned," in K'iche'....
include a main pyramidal structure of 23 meters height (the inferior structures are still buried) located in a block and forming two truncated pyramids to the west. It has eight pilasters with chiseled figures. Northernmost, there are other complex constructions and a memorial dance grounds with ladders. The 'Ball Game' field, almost totally destroyed, used to be located in the current cemetery area.
In the western flank of Ku or Teocali, there is a monolith carved in basaltic rock called “Estela de Tazumal” of 2.65 meters height and 1.16 meters wide. It represents a richly adorned character, showing on the side hieroglyphical inscriptions that are possibly chronological, but different from the classical of the Mayan culture.