Monte Albán is one of the most interesting archaeological sites in Mexico and certainly a place you can’t miss if you visit Oaxaca.
Monte Albán is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, along with the old city of Oaxaca. It is, by itself, a good enough reason to go to Oaxaca (and there are more, as we tell you in this post about Oaxaca city).
That’s why after staying for 2 full days in Oaxaca de Juárez, the state capital city, we rented a car to visit its surroundings and started by its crown jewel: Monte Albán.
Some history of Monte Albán
Built on a privileged location atop a hill over the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Monte Albán had been inhabited since the 7th c. BC and was thus one of the first urban civilisations of all Mesoamerica. Monte Albán functioned as the capital city of the Zapotec civilisation until its decline in the 8th c. AD.
The first period of the city is known as Monte Albán I. Some remnants of those early times have made it to our days, especially the enigmatic stone carvings known as The Dancers (Los Danzantes).
Monte Albán had already developed into a city with stone buildings arranged according to the cardinal points, a good knowledge of the calendar, the numbering system, writing and an organised religion. Its buildings were never tall, and had think walls, designed against earthquakes.
The buildings of this first period had nearly vertical walls (and stairs). The walls of some temples had carvings with human figures, numbers and writing (like Los Danzantes). There was already an Olmec influence.
During the next period, Monte Albán II (3th c. BC – 2th c. AD) the architectural style didn’t change so much, but new kinds of buildings appeared (the most representative of which is Building J), as well as the influence of people from Chiapas. They erected large steles and carved the first xicalcoliuhqui (a serpent-like motif similar to Ancient Greek meanders).
By the end of Period II, the influence of Teotihuacan arrived in Monte Albán, the great civilisation from Mexico Valley. Actually, by this time, there was a zapotec neighbourhood in Teotihuacan. The teotihuacanos brought a new style to Monte Albán and their very recognisable innovation: the slope-and-panel technique or talud-tablero.
Since 350 Teotihuacan’s influence became completely dominant. This new period is known as Monte Albán IIIA, and there were barely new constructions. But a lot of orange pottery from Teotihuacan has been found from this period, as well as imitations made in Monte Albán.
The mainstream theory states that Monte Albán and Teotihuacan established political and trade alliance during this period, but some scholars believe that Monte Albán was actually occupied by Teotihuacán.
Circa 500 relations between Teotihuacan and Monte Albán were suspended. This gave rise to a rebirth of Zapotec culture, with barely any foreign influences.
Monte Albán reached its cultural zenith during these times, known as Period Xoo or IIIB, and its population reached 35000. Most buildings we see today in Monte Albán archaeological site date from this period.
Period IV is that of Monte Albán’s decline, which started abrubtly around 750. Buildings stopped being renovated and enlarged and most of the city’s inhabitants abandoned it. However, it was visited continously as a ceremonial centre until the Spanish conquest in 1521.
From the 13th century, the Valley of Oaxaca was dominated by the Mixtecs. This is known as Period V. Then a new architectural style flourished, especially in neighbouring Mitla.
Monte Albán Tomb 7 dates from this last period. It contained the richest treasure ever found in Mesoamerica. Nowadays, it is exhibited in Museo de los Orígenes in Oaxaca (inside the former monastery of Santo Domingo de Guzmán).
How to arrive in Monte Albán
Monte Albán lies 7 km SW of Oaxaca de Juárez city centre, the beautiful capital city of Oaxaca State. It takes around 30 min by car, because there is usually a lot of traffic to go out of Oaxaca and then you should go up a winding road to reach Monte Albán.
You can also reach Monte Albán in one of the tourist buses that depart from Oaxaca city centre (next to Benito Juárez market).
Opening hours and prices of Monte Albán archaelogical site
Monte Albán archaeological site opens 365 days a year from 8 am to 5 pm.
However, during COVID-19 pandemic, only 400 visitors a day are allowed and opening hours are 10 am to 4 pm. As it is a quite popular site, we strongly advise you to arrive before 10 am so you are sure you can visit Monte Albán.
As measures may change fast, we recommend you to check the opening hours and restrictions in official website of the Mexican Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH): inah.gob.mx.
Entrance to Monte Albán archaeological site costs 80 pesos (US$ 3.90 / €3.40).
Visting Monte Albán
Visiting the archaeological site Monte Albán is quite straightforward – the visit is organised around a signalled and logical round path. Monte Albán is also the archaeological site with the best explanatory signs of all we visited in Mexico.
You should plan 3 hours to visit Monte Albán.
Upon entering the site, before walking uphill, you can find Tomb 104 (Period III, 250-500 d.C.). There is a reproduction of this tomb in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City.
It’s decorated with extraordinary frescoes and contains an urn representing Cocijo (Zapotec god of rain) and other ceramic objects. It’s a very simple treasure compared to luxurious Tomb 7 from the Postclassical period (13th-15th c.), which you can visit in the Museum of Cultures in Oaxaca.
Near the entrance there are also some hydraulic works. Walking up a slope, you will enter the political and ceremonial centre of Monte Albán. This is arranged around two large platforms (North and South) and the breathtaking Main Plaza, which hosts the most interesting buildings.
The view of the whole valley from the centre of Monte Albán is marvellous. You can imagine those hills full of terraces with maize crops.
North Platform
The visit to Monte Albán city centre starts at the North Platform. It is a great starter, because it is not as spectacular as what you will see later, but it does have some interesting buildings anyway!
First you will arrive to the Ocote Palace (300-600 AD) – this was a large residential complex, one of the most exclusive of the North Platform. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to see nowadays, as only the foundations have been preserved.
The Jewelled Platform is much more interesting. This is the only platform attached to the North Platform structure. Its name is given by its decoration of vertical panels with circles (originally painted in red). Only two other buildings Monte Albán have this kind of decoration.
Building A is one of the best preserved in the North Platform. It was the platform for a temple, like many other of the buildings we see today in Monte Albán. It was built in periods IIIB-IV (500-800) and it is one of the few buildings in Monte Albán that has no elements from previous periods.
Building E is probably one of the largest in the North Platform, but it’s not very well preserved and it hasn’t been reconstructed.
However, there is a beautiful stele in the middle of the upper part of its stairway. It was carved in the declining period of Monte Albán (around 80o) and it represents five members of the ruling elite, four of which are women.
In the central scene, an elderly woman and a young man represented by a jaguar are performing a ceremony, probably a power transfer formality.
Sunken Patio
The Sunken Patio is located by the south side of the North Platform, which gives way to the Main Plaza. It is a square of approximately 50 x 50 metres built 4 metres deep. Its final constructions date from Period IIIB-IV (500 – 800).
Its stairs and buildings are aligned with the cardinal points. There is an altar in the middle of the patio. These features and its partly hidden location suggest that the Sunken Patio was the scene for ceremonies of a privileged elite.
The southern stairway of the Sunken Patio is its largest. It leads to a set of double columns. Behind it, a monumental staircase goes down to the Main Plaza.
Main Plaza
The Main Plaza is the heart of Monte Albán monumental centre. It is a huge space – 300 m long and 150 m wide – built in a ground depression. Monte Albán’s architects levelled the terrain, using some of its rocks as building foundations.
The Main Plaza hosts monumental buildings in each of its fours sides, plus 4 buildings in the centre. Many of them could have had a double residential and administrative or ceremonial use.
The North and South Platforms mark the limits of the Main Plaza’s shorter sides. Take your time to admire this grandiose space from above, before taking the steps down the Main Plaza.
The Plaza is actually not as symmetrical as it seems. Due to the relief of this vast space, North and South Platforms are not aligned and the western side is longer than the eastern – to make up for this and make the Plaza more symmetrical, the buildings of the longer side are preceded by smaller constructions with a courtyard.
First, we visit the buildings of the western side of the Main Plaza (right of the monumental staircase) and then go back along the eastern side.
First, there are some interesting steles. The best preserved in Stele 9. It is carved on all for sides in a style surprisingly similar to that of Maya steles.
The northern face of Stele 9 (below) is the most beautiful. It depicts two characters, one talking to the other. The text written around this illustration explains us this was a political event.
Stele 18 is also interesting. It is one of the oldest steles in (Period II, 100 BC – 350 AD).
It looks like this was a kind of sundial, used to calculate local noon and the passing of Sun over the local zenith (when it is directly overhead, a phenomenon that only happens between the tropics), which ocurrs twice a year.
System IV & System M
Next to Stele 18, on the eastern side of the Main Plaza, is System IV. This is a ceremonial ensemble, twin to System M, consisting of a temple, a courtyard and an altar.
The current construction dates from Periods IIIB-IV and has a slope-and-panel structure and “double scapular” decoration. But inside the building there is a huge platform from Period I and a Period II temple.
Between Systems IV and M stands the Dancers’ building (Edificio de los Danzantes).
Buildings G, H & I make up a massive structure that stands in the centre of the Main Plaza. These were platforms for temples and follow a symmetrical arrangement along the North-South axis. Building H, in the middle is the largest of the three.
The structure of these three temples mimics the oratories of other buildings in Monte Albán’s ceremonial centre, only at a much larger scale. The buildings we see nowadays date from Period IIIB. Just South of Buildings G, H & I lies Building J, the most important observatory of Monte Albán.
Los Danzantes
The carved stones known as Los Danzantes or The Dancers is one of the most renowned artworks of pre-hispanic Mexico and an icon of Monte Albán.
Los Danzantes were carved in the first period of Monte Albán (500 – 100 BC) and they represent naked male characters with wide noses and thick lips, wearing jewellery. These features suggest an Olmec influence.
These carved stones are in the “Building of the Dancers“, which stands between twin systems IV and M. These steles were part of the building’s walls, but some were re-used centuries later. In front of this building, some of the most interesting steles are lined, making what is called the Gallery of the Dancers.
But who were these “dancers” actually?
They were called “dancers” because of their body posture (those in horizontal positions were “swimmers”). However, recent discoveries have shown they were something completely different – they were leaders of neighbouring rivals captured by Monte Albán’s army and sacrificed.
The carvings suggest these characters were castrated to obtain their most precious blood and offer it to the gods. Some stones also bear short texts about historical events of the time.
Observatory (Building J)
Just south of Buildings G, H & I stands Building J, thought to be the main observatory of Monte Albán.
This observatory was built in Period II (100 BC – 350 AD). Its main staircase – and the whole structure – points northeast, diagonal to the Main Plaza’s axis.
Don’t miss the conquist-commemorating stones integrated in one of the observatory’s walls.
On each of these stones, the glyph of Monte Albán was carved, along with an upside down head or body, each representing a city vanquished by the powerful army of Monte Albán.
After visiting the observatory, you can climb the stairs of the South Plataform. But first, let us continue along the Eastern side of the Main Plaza. First, we get to Mount Q, a pyramid platform from Periods IIIB-IV, of one the simplest in the ceremonial centre of Monte Albán.
Palace
The Palace was one of the most important buildings in the Great Plaza. It stands out on the East side, just across the Observatory.
Construction of the palace started after AD 350 and it seems it was related to noblemen or priests of Monte Albán. Access to the building was through a narrow pathway known as “blind entrance”, which reveals the exclusivity of the Palace.
There is a tunnel below the palace, maybe a private access to the Main Plaza. Even if only the great staircase and part of the main façade have survived, we can still imagine well the opulence of this building
Por debajo del Palacio hay un túnel, quizás un acceso privado a la Gran Plaza. Aunque solo se conserva la gran escalinata y parte del muro principal, nos podemos hacer una idea de la grandiosidad de este palacio.
The next construction walking back North is Building P, a platform for a temple. This is the only building in Monte Albán that has a light chamber (on the left of the staircase). It seems that this narrow opening served to register the zenith, that in Monte Albán happens in the beginning of May and in the beginning of August.
Finally, Building II is the closest to the Ballgame Court and the North Platform.
During Period II (100 BC – 350 AD), before the teotihuacanos’ arrival, a high platform and a temple with rectangular columns was built here. An underground corridor led to an altar inside the building.
The façade of Building II was enlarged in Period IIIB (after 500) and “double scapular” cornices.
South Platform
The monumental staircase of the South Platform closes the Great Plaza. Near the base of the platform some offerings were found and four massive slabs stand on each corner.
The South Platform has not been completely excavated. If you still have some energy to go up, you will see Building 7 Deer (the date engraved on its entrance) – actually a group of four buildings arranged along the cardinal points surrounding a central courtyard.
Great Ballgame Court
The main Ballgame Court of Monte Albán stands by the norteastern corner of the Main Plaza. Five ballgame courts have been found in the city, which shows the great social importance this game had in this civilisation.
This stadium was built circa 100 BC and is quite small compared to ballgame courts in other ancient cities in Mexico.
The Great Ballgame Court in Monte Albán doesn’t have ring-shaped goals, one of the most famous features of this game. Actually, these goals were a later innovation in the game. In Monte Albán there is a stone disc in the middle of the playing field, which could be the goal (but unfortunately no copy of the rules of the game has been preserved).
When people talk about Mesoamerican ballgame often they highlight human sacrifices. While it’s true that players were sometimes sacrificed, this only happened in ritual games played during religious festivals, and it is not clear if it was actually so in every city. But ballgame was a lot more than that.
We could regard Mesoamerican ballgame as the first sport with a huge social dimension in the history of humankind. It was very popular in a vast area, including cities of different cultures. Of course it was played for fun, but also to solve conflicts, or as a ritual game.
The movement of the rubber ball (whose way of bouncing off the wall astonished the Europeans) represented the sacred heavenly bodies – the Sun, Moon and Venus. Thus, the winners were protected by the gods.
The sloped walls were covered with a thick layer of lime that created a smooth surface where the ball could bounce predictably. Players could only play the ball with their hips, elbows and knees.
The Great Ballgame Court is the last stage of the visit to Monte Albán. Then, you can visit the small museum at the entrance of the site. We couldn’t visit it because it was closed due to COVID-19 restrictions, as most archaeological site museums in Mexico.
So we left and drove to another marvellous, albeit much smaller, archaeological site – Mitla.
Other archaeological sites near Oaxaca de Juárez are Yagul, Zaachila and Lambityeco. Yagul is the most interesting, along with Mitla, but during the pandemic it’s not possible to visit both on the same time as they open of different days. The other two are temporarily closed.
