Customer Reviews

An Album of Maya Architecture

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There are currently two versions of this beautiful book available that does a marvelous job of recreating the Maya world. The one entitled "An Album of Maya Architecture"(the other version has no An in the title) is published by Dover and is unabridged and is therefore a rebulication of the original published by the Carnegie Instition of Washington D.C. in 1946. This book is a labor of love by Tatiana Proskouriakoff whose excellent illustrations will and have stood the test of time. In the acknowledgement the author gives credit to all who made this project possible as there are several unpublished drawings and notes that were put at her disposal. Having visited the great temples of the Maya in Copan(Honduras), Guatemala and the Yucatan(Mexico) I can bear testament to their magnificent presence in the jungles. Buried for years in the jungles they have only "resurfaced" recently for archeologists to study and preserve for future generations. In this book the author takes the liberty of informing us of the uses of the various temples based on her extensive knowledge and field research. Since many of the building have deteriorated with the passing centuries,Tatiana Proskouriakoff mastefully recreates the buildings as they were, based on her studies. Her lively depiction of the famous Ball Court is in stark contrast to the actual court that is desolate with only tourists and the spirits of the skillfull atheletes who once graced the courts. The black and whilte illustrations are simple yet lavish in certain details. Each section or chapter comes complete with text explaining the visual and begins with an elaborate illustration of a particular part of the site in full rich detail.This is a beautiful book that anyone who is interested in the ancient Maya should have in their library. The author also suggests other books and works to compliment the study of the complex world of the mysterious Maya.

A very nice and useful book.Throughout 29 plates Tania covers from Early Classic to Postclassic,from Uaxactun to Chichen-Itzá, showing many buildings and structures.According to her time,this Proskouriakoff's masterpiece displays highly accurated B&W drawings, plenty of details and suggestive forms, bringing to light Maya history not only from the jungle, but also from the obscurity of past. As the back cover says, her work combines "the imagination of an artist and the precision of a scientist". A great book by a great mayanist.

If you are interested in Maya Architecture this is a must!
Great talent! Very accurate.

My husband and I have traveled extensively to the many ruins in Mexico and the illustrations in this book are amazing! We've seen a lot of the Maya ruins and this book had some we hadn't been to yet. If you love pre-Columbian architecture in Mesoamerica or have traveled to this part of the world, you'll love this book.

It's one thing to visit the Maya world, another entirely to imagine it in it's technicolor Classic splendor. Tatiana Proskouriakoff's book helps us to visualize what time has stolen. I wish I new about this book sooner. It is an invaluable aid in the study of the ancient history of North American art and culture.

The author of this book was a Mayanist who was interested in Mayan architecture and created this book of drawings of what today's Maya ruins would have looked like when they were in use, 1200 years ago. Today these buildings are sort of hacked together by the archeologists, and they are rough to the eye and usually incomplete, but in their day they were awe-inspiring temples, pyramids, palaces, platforms, courtyards and tombs. Proskouriakoff gives us several dozen black and white illustrations herein, re-creating for us the physical world of the Maya as revealed in their buildings and architecture. Some of these buildings are relatively small, others gigantic pyramid-platforms housing a number of temples in one place. She gives close-ups of specific buildings and panoramic views of whole plazas full of buildings, inviting us to goggle at what the ancient Maya accomplished without the use of metal, the wheel, or modern tools. In her reconstructions of these edifices she is exposing us directly to a really different view of the world from our own, one in which sacrifice was constant and pervasive, and the temples in these illustrations both charm with their promise of spiritual renewal and horrify as you realize how many people had their hearts cut out in them. Under these soaring pyramids are buried kings, with hoards of jade, bound books, painted ceramics and carved seashells and bones. Thousands upon thousands of people once thronged these places, offering worship and hawking wares; the buildings were once awash in life and are only now coming to life again as tourists explore them and marvel at their antiquity and prowess. This inexpensive little book is essential to any collection of books on the Maya; get it without another thought, and never look back.

Tatiana was personal secretary to Eric Thompson, the foremost expert on the Maya who repressed (shaming the proponents) every attempt to put forth a basis for deciphering the Mayan hieroglyphics that differed from his own. Once Thompson passed away, she published books that pioneered her own take on a different approach to the decipherment that has served as the foundation for the tremendous strides that have followed.

This album has been through numerous hardcover and paperback editions as it is a one-of-a-kind delight showcasing the breadth of Tatiana's knowledge and insight into the world of the ancient Maya. No one has ever come close to equaling this masterpiece that is essential for anyone who strives to know the Mayan ceremonial centers as places where people actually lived and thrived for hundreds of years, rather than simply as picturesque, mysterious ruins.

The text accompanying each full page (or larger) as accurate as possible reconstructional drawing averages about 1 to 1.5 pages with a simple line drawing attached to demonstrate the basic outline of the buidling or ceremonial center as it appeared in 1946 (date of 1st edition). The drawing are detailed and as accurate as possible for the time, and apart from details, they have withstood the test of time. Not to mention they are beautiful. What you see on the cover is what you'll find inside; the quality doesn't vary. The drawings are, unfortunately, all done in black and white, but especially at the time this book was done, much of the color attached to the ruins would have been speculative at best.

A MUST for anyone with more than a passing interest in the Mayan culture what it actually looked like. One of my favorite books!

This book although perhaps slightly out of date is an excellent way to get started in this field. Tania Proskouriokoff is one of the most influential archaeologists ever to work in the feild of Maya history. She was a great scientist and researched this book well and with great regard for the imperfections of the study of the Mayan history.